by Joe Jeffrey
The Caravan Club highlights the importance of the West Midlands to the leisure industry at the Caravan, Camping & Motorhome Show 2016
Birmingham has been crowned ‘caravan capital’ of the UK following on from research conducted by The Caravan Club which has revealed the West Midlands has more caravans and motorhomes per head of population than anywhere else in Britain.
The news, which coincides with The Caravan Club’s presence at the Caravan, Camping & Motorhome Show at Birmingham’s NEC, will come as no surprise to many caravanners and motorhomers in attendance at the show taking place now until 28 February.
Of the most popular places to visit within the West Midlands, many choose to head to the nostalgic north-west seaside town of Southport which is the most popular destination in the UK for caravanners, according to the research conducted by The Club.
Southport, famous for its 22-mile-long coastline and its historic pier, leads the list of Top 5 most popular caravan destinations in the UK, and is in good company with tourist hotspots York, Bristol, Bakewell and Castleton, both in Derbyshire, also among the leading lights.
Caravanners are renowned as the happiest of holidaymakers because of the number of holidays they take every year. And it means that Southport is almost certain to be among the happiest places in the UK come summer.
Research carried out by The Caravan Club also found that 30 per cent of caravanners spend between 40 to 70 nights away in their caravan every year, with the community spending a massive £400M off-site in local tourism economies annually.
The research also showed that one in five caravan holidays in the UK involves children and more than one in every three caravan holidays (36 per cent) involves the family pet.
Importantly, once bitten by the bug, caravanners claim the cost is more than balanced by how much they save in the long term over the price of non-caravan holidays.
The lifespan of a caravan is around 20 years with the average cost being £6-14k (includes both new and second-hand caravans). Compare this to the cost of a package holiday for a UK family of four taking a two-week break abroad which has an average cost of around £4,792 according to experts – and these figures highlight how (even at the top end of the scale) caravanners get a far better deal, with a potential £80k saving over the lifetime of the caravan.
Consequently, The Caravan Club has also reported an overall 14 per cent increase in bookings year-on-year, demonstrating that UK holidays show no sign of waning when compared to European and long-haul sunshine getaways.
In 2015, almost one in every three UK holidays involved a caravan. Some 32 per cent of Great British holiday nights were spent caravanning or camping last year, according to The Caravan Club data.
And even the famously inclement UK weather doesn’t put caravanners off – in fact, 40 per cent claim to actually enjoy the unpredictability of the British weather.
Harvey Alexander, director of marketing atThe Caravan Club, said: “We all know how great it is to be outside enjoying the UK countryside and coastline during the spring and summer months and it’s encouraging to see our members continuing to champion the staycation in 2016.
“There is no better getaway, than arriving at a little known campsite and discovering a hidden gem. The fresh air and beautiful surroundings mean that this type of holiday can be the most rewarding for many people in this country.”
Check out what else Harvey had to say in the video above.
