By Joe Jeffrey
Figures released by show organisers reveal record breaking attendance figures and record sales for many exhibitors
Caravan, Camping & Motorhome Show organisers have released attendance figures for 2015 and it was a record breaker.
During the course of the six-day event, 86,625 visitors passed through the doors of the NEC in Birmingham to check out all the latest offerings from the leisure vehicle and camping industries. To put that into perspective, that’s the equvalent filling up the O2 arena in London four times over and then some.
This year’s event, launched by TV’s Ben Fogle and Matt Baker, was strengthened by new industry campaign ‘Freedom to Go’ which is supported by both The Caravan Club and The Camping & Caravanning Club with the aim of encouraging more members of the public to experience leisure vehicle holidays themselves; traffic to the ‘Freedom to Go’ website increased by 30 per cent during the course of the show.
Another positive for the show this year was the publicity garnered by Ray Mears’ appearance on BBC programme Room 101, where he revealed a bitter dislike for caravans, despite being scheduled to appear at the show as special celebrity guest. Originally reported here on CaravanTimes and subsequently reported across the national press, Mears’ foot-in-mouth moment certainly provided show organisers with a great deal of free publicity following the termination of his services which saw the celebrity survivalist forfeit a five-figure attendance fee.
Saturday 21 February proved to be the busiest day, which saw almost 20,000 visitors attend the largest start-of-the-season holiday showcase there is and many exhibitors including Swift and Lunar reported record sales figures throughout the course of the show.
Andrew Whalley, Managing Director of NCC Events, said: “I am delighted that such a bumper audience attended The Caravan, Camping & Motorhome Show 2015. It was the busiest ever since we began organising the event in 2012 and the atmosphere in the halls was electric. With double digit growth for 2014 new caravan sales and motorhome registrations, this increase in visitor numbers is reflective of how buoyant the market currently is.”
Did you attend the Caravan, Camping & Motorhome Show 2015? If so, let us know below if you managed to bag a bargain and what you thought of this year’s event.
