A holiday cottages business is gearing up for a busy summer of bookings from both island residents continuing to enjoy staycations and people visiting from the UK as borders open.

The boss of Island Escapes is reporting a ’healthy level of demand’ and says he is looking forward to welcoming new and returning customers to the company’s range of nearly 60 properties island wide.

Managing director John Keggin said the staycation trend in the island which started last year, appears to be continuing to attract interest as many island residents prefer remaining in the island for their holidays and breaks, even if the borders open as predicted in a few weeks time.

Mr Keggin told the Manx Independent there was a ’nice mixture’ of people from the island and people from across who wanted to stay here.

He said: ’We are seeing a lot of interest from families in particular.

’Many of our properties have been booked up for July and August.

’There have also been a lot of advance inquiries regarding next year.’

Mr Keggin was speaking as four holiday homes managed by the holiday lettings agency achieved a Visit Isle of Man 5 Star Gold Award, the highest rating possible for self-catering holiday accommodation in the island.

The gold award winning properties were all assessed by industry experts Quality in Tourism, and this was done remotely because of travel restrictions preventing the assessors from coming to the island.

Ballarhennie House, close to the coast at Kirk Michael, is one of the properties to achieve the gold rating.

The other three are all in Castletown. Ellan Vannin, Packet House and Keys Cottage have all been refurbished by Marlinspike properties, based in the town.