Caravan holidays set to make a comeback
By Darren Cronian on Tuesday, May 27th, 2008

Growing up, I spent the summer holidays in a caravan on the Yorkshire coast and the thought of travelling abroad never entered my head. Sunshine was never guaranteed, but when the sun shined, you laid on the beach or walked down the promenade eating fish and chips.

Caravan holidays set to make a comeback

Those were the days

Thinking back to the caravans we stayed in, you were lucky if you found a channel watchable on the portable black and white television, and toilets and shower facilities did not exist, you had to walk across the campsite to use those.

Then in the 80’s we started to see the emergence of holidays abroad to destinations like Spain, where sunshine was guaranteed, and the local currency meant it was cheaper than taking a holiday at home, when you got over the price of the package holiday.

It’s amazing how things turn around and in 2008, we are starting to see more consumers thinking about taking holidays at home due to the weak Euro and the increase in the price of flights, so it’s interesting to hear that caravan holidays are set to make a comeback.

Caravan holidays in the 21st century

Nowadays you will find caravans that have comfortable living space, fully equipped kitchens, LCD televisions, with satellite, shower and toilets, and even WiFi access. Kids are so spoilt nowadays when I look back to my childhood.

Consumers are thinking more about the environment so it is good to see that Britain has cleaned up its act and most of the beaches have blue flag awards. A few years ago, I would have gone on a short break abroad during the bank holiday, now I visit seaside towns like Whitby on the Yorkshire coast.

I’m interested to hear your thoughts.


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5 responses to “Caravan holidays set to make a comeback”

Soultravelers3 | 28 May, 2008 at 12:41 pm

We see lots of caravans from GB as we travel, especially in France, Spain and Portugal. It will be interesting to see what caravan life is like in the UK when we visit this summer.

Here is an informative site we often use to connect with people from the UK who have interest in caravan vacations or motorhoming:

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/

Perhaps it will be useful to you or some of your readers.

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Darren Cronian | 29 May, 2008 at 6:23 am

@Soultravelers3

Caravan holidays are split up into two categories;

Those that own a caravan and go touring
Those that rent a caravan, what they call a static caravan which sits on the campside all year around.

The holidays we had were in static caravans. You make a good point about seeing what caravan is like, because you very rarely see people driving with caravans behind them these days.

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Rohan | 3 June, 2008 at 5:19 pm

I havent been in a caravan since a kid and do not intent to start now. No way, let me get on that beach in the sun.

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Chris Byrne | 18 November, 2008 at 9:38 am

my parents has a static caravn on a site in out rawcliffe, from 1972 til 2006 and i spent nearly every weekend there, and had a wonderful time, yes the tiolets were outside in a block, and yes it was sometimes cold, when i married in 1990 i stopped going as wanted to spend our own time together, and started going abroad, but now after 18 years of travelling abroad, we have decided weve had enough, enough of the humping suitcases in and out of taxis/cars the horrendous ques and laborious passport control ferformance!
then not to mention the check in staff weighing your cases, and trying to charge you for being 1 ounce over the stated weight!!!! then when you arrive its not cheap any more! eating and dining out are more expensive than the uk!
and we are now fed up with lying on a beach all day, warm as it is, it really has past its sell by date!

so hence now we have just bought a static caravan. but how things have changed! 37 ft long! two bedrooms,one with king size bed! two bathrooms, one en suite, domestic double glazing, domestc central heating, under floor and ceiling insulation 5 inch thick,
full size fridge freezer, full size oven, i could go on and on!
this isn’t caravaning as we used to do it, this is a home from home!

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Julianne Kinsey | 13 October, 2010 at 1:03 pm

Owning a site geared toward bringing private static caravan owners together with holiday makers I can say given our ever increasing traffic that Caravan Holidays are more popular than ever.

The caravans of today are not only more technologically advanced offering electronic amenities akin to hotels with modern facilities, but they are also set on parks that have spent an incredible amount of effort in providing events and facilities that allure many a holiday maker. The park site that we have our caravan on has nightly kids shows, entertainment for adults too (comedy shows, quiz nights, bingo and the like) a restaurant, small shop, indoor and outdoor pool, and much more. If you have children they can stay very well entertained and run off lots of energy, with little effort on your behalf planning or arranging, ending each day exhausted falling into bed, leaving some alone time to parents! The grounds are maintained beautifully providing a great place to walk about and is located within a fifteen minute walk to the beach, also a great selling point.

I believe renting a caravan for holidays are alluring for holiday makers here in the UK versus flying overseas because you can have a relatively short drive avoiding airport security, delayed flights, squeezing your sundries into tiny luggage or paying to bring more and feel good boosting your local economy. Plus with the money saved on travel and convenience of being local, people are free to take more holidays! I think we will definitely continue to see a rise in Caravan Holidays even as the economy bounces back! :-)

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