By William Coleman
It is no surprise that campsites across the UK are capturing a much younger audience than over the past few years. With the introduction of glamping holidays and the huge increase in motorhome sales the youth of the nation are revitalizing the UK based holiday.
There are another couple of large factors that we can attribute to younger generations taking up motorhome and caravan holidays, the adventure holiday and festival season!
It seems that the UK youth have become a lot more active over the past few years and are choosing adventure weekend away over the boozy trip to Bognar or Blackpool.
A lot of campsites that are located near these hotspots are benefiting from the new holiday trends. Another great thing about this new craze it that it is bringing a lot of first timers to the fold.
The 2018 rise in “park novices” was among the subjects discussed when Best Of British members met in November for their annual conference in Ely, Cambridgeshire.
Comprising over 50 independent family-run parks, the group also welcomed six new members, and heard of plans to step up its successful digital marketing campaign.
BoB’s online activity, reported chairman Richard Legg, had this year generated a raft of bookings and enquiries from holiday guests seeking top-end park experiences:
“The internet is proving a very powerful medium for us, and by working in collaboration we can achieve much more than would be possible or affordable individually,” he said.
“It also allows us to target people who are perhaps unfamiliar with parks generally, but who enjoy the notion of trying a glamping holiday, or renting a motorhome.
“This is an important emerging market of younger guests who are likely to underpin our future by providing tomorrow’s customer base of visitors and holiday home buyers.
“There’s every reason to believe that the growth of new park customers will remain on an upward trajectory as long as we continue to meet their quality expectations,” said Richard.
Richard, whose family owns Hidden Valley Park near Ilfracombe, said that the group’s strength lay in its shared values of providing the highest standards of hospitality and customer care.
The two-day conference also heard from a number of specialist speakers on different ways in which parks could help promote and market their businesses.
Richard said that BoB was delighted to be joined by six new parks from across the UK which would offer visitors an even wider choice of first-class destinations.
Scotland is now represented by Blair Castle Caravan Park in Blair Atholl, Brighouse Bay Caravan Park in Dumfries and Galloway, and Craigtoun Meadows Holiday Park in Fife.
It is not just adventure style holidays that are attracting a younger audience. I have been to parks all across the UK this year and spoken with tons of young people and couple about what has drawn them to campsite and the purchase of a leisure vehicle.
The overwhelming consensus was that there always seemed to be a kind of stigma towards caravan and motorhome holiday, oddly enough. “Caravan” at one point seemed to be a dirty word that was for “old people”. The reality of the matter is it could not be further from the truth and the proof is in the pudding as the caravan holiday is very much at the forefront of the UK’s economy.
Add to that the huge efforts taken by parks all across the UK to and attractions for those who do not own a caravan or motorhome. The Caravan and Motorhome Club have stationary American Airstreams on several sites as well as other glamping huts, pods and yurts. The rental scene has always had a huge positive impact, especially during festival season.
