The best worst travel advert ever

A screengrab from the Thorne Travel YouTube clip.

One of the stars of an unintentionally hilarious promo video for a small travel agent in Scotland that has become an internet sensation has described the women in it as "like the Virgin Airways girls only bigger".

Shona Thorne, owner of Thorne Travel in Kilwinning, North Ayrshire, said she made the three-minute clip, which has been viewed nearly 200,000 in YouTube in just one day, with help from colleagues, friends and family.

The video - dubbed "so bad, it's good" features their glamorous staff strutting along the high street in tight-fitting dresses to a pumping club soundtrack, granting holiday wishes to locals with startling special effects.

The bevy of travel agents turn heads as they march through town in their pink frocks, hand on hips, twirling in slow-mo and clicking their fingers in a flurry of stardust.

Ms Thorne told the Mail Online: "With our pink uniforms, we look a bit like the Virgin Airways girls, only a bit bigger, with a bit more attitude, and a bit more real."

When planning the promotional video, Shona says they didn't want to use "polished, size-six actresses".

"It's a bit of a laugh," she adds. "It's supposed to be tongue in cheek."

The advert, which features street dancers, amateurish special effects and a cruise ship 'captain' in an ill-fitting uniform went viral online after receiving an endorsement from Fr Ted creator Graham Linehan.

Thousands of users watched the video yesterday afternoon after Father Ted and The IT Crowd creator Graham Linehan tweeted the link, saying: "After a year of Ebola, UKIP, gamergate and worse, WE HAVE FOUND OUR UNICORN CHASER."

One of the highlights of the video is the scene where a couple meet a cruise captain in ill-fitting uniform

Within hours, it had been viewed almost 40,000 times on YouTube, and shared countless times on Facebook and Twitter, with one fan writing: "All it's missing is Alan Partridge".

The video features staff flouncing down the high street in Kilwinning against a soundtrack by Swedish House Mafia.

Various scenes show the travel agent employees transforming black and white scenes into colour.

In one toe-curling scene a bearded man appears as a cruise ship captain in a uniform three times too big for him and approaches an elderly couple looking though a brochure.

Christina Haywood, 20, assistant manager at the travel agency, said: "We wanted to show our customers that we're quirky and like to have a laugh. So, we decided to make a video to show what we're all about.

"We are a travel agency that is different to everyone else. We do everything from bus trips to Blackpool to luxury holidays at the other end of the world. We just wanted to spread the word.

"Filming the video brilliant and a good laugh, but we didn't expect what was going to happen.

"We expected a few people to watch it but it's gone viral. It's been great.

"People have been sharing it across social media and we've even had comments from Australia."

- DAILY MAIL