Scott Dunn to launch new itineraries for teenagers in 2026

Luxury tour operator Scott Dunn will launch a series of new itineraries for 2026 designed specifically for teenagers.

Speaking at a media event in London last week, Scott Dunn’s global product and strategy director Simon Lynch said teens were being “hugely overlooked” by luxury travel brands, with the majority focusing their attention on children up to the age of 12 and pets.

“At Scott Dunn, we’ve spent the past four decades planning every type of family holiday you can think of, and one thing has become clear: teenagers are solely underserved and quite often forgotten entirely by luxury travel brands,” he said.

“We’re changing that in 2026 by launching new itineraries and experiences designed for and by our teenage guests.”

He added: “There’s a couple of great resorts out there that have got teenage programmes, but as brands, they are missing a trick. They’re ignoring their future customers, and they’re ignoring a demanding and quite engaged audience. So we are going big on teenagers.”

Details of the new teens programme will be announced in due course.

The launch comes amid a large Scott Dunn survey of teenage guests and parents, which found teens to be the strongest influencers in family travel decisions.

The 2025 study found more than 70% of teenagers are proactively giving their parents ideas on where to go on holiday, nearly 40% have successfully changed their parents’ minds on destination choices, and more than 50% say travel decisions are made collectively as a family.

Scott Dunn said popular destinations named by teens include Thailand, South Africa, Australia, Greece and Costa Rica, with the Maldives ranking as the most sought-after beach escape.

As well as the new teens programme, Scott Dunn is bolstering its offering for children, with a new Explorers Kids Club opening at Sun Gardens Dubrovnik next April, offering tailored experiences for children aged four months to 11 years. 

The opening brings the operator’s kids’ club portfolio to nine.

Scott Dunn is also set to launch a new private nanny service in the Three Valleys in the French Alps as an extension to its Explorers Kids Club in Courchevel.

The service will offer families a “flexible and personalised solution”, with all nannies recruited and trained by Scott Dunn.

The operator said it had seen a 205% rise in the number of children it looked after in 2025.