Interesting Stats from the NCC (1 Viewer)

[Jim]

Interesting Statistics from the National Caravan Council. They want 2 million more nights/caravan holidays to be taken this year. They obviously have not heard about the CC's ludicrous and abused booking system

The number of motorhomers is particularly interesting. We now know there are around 158,000 motorhomers missing out on the FUN

• The caravan industry contributes over £5 billion to the UK economy (new/used retail sales plus holiday spend). Around 95 per cent of touring caravans on British roads are made in the UK.
• The industry employs in excess of 90,000 people, including part time and seasonal staff.
• More than £1.75 billion was spent on UK caravan holidays in 2007 – this is expected to rise considerably in 2009.
• It is a growing industry – caravan parks across the UK are experiencing increases in bookings, ranging between 8 and 50 per cent.
• Caravan holidays (in touring caravans and caravan holiday homes – rented and owned) accounted for nearly 11.5 million trips according to VisitBritain’s 2007 United Kingdom Tourism Survey (UKTS), while the number of camping holidays approached 5 million.
• More than 53 million nights are spent in caravans each year (source: as above)
• In Britain currently there are
- 500,000 touring caravans
- approximately 300,000 caravan holiday homes
and
- 164,000 motorhomes
meaning nearly one million leisure accommodation vehicles are in use (source, NCC).
• There are more than 2,000 licensed holiday/touring parks in UK, many in rural areas where tourism is vital to the economy

 

[californiadreamer]

now proven - it's impossible to site everyone

I haven't posted before but this is impossible to resist - a simple sum:

divide 2000 (number of sites) by 664,000 (number of touring units)

answer = 332.332 (pitches needed per site, to accommodate total units)

ergo = we are at home on Good Friday and our motorhome is on the drive because there are no pitches available, in any decent locations.

Nuff said!!http://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/images/smilies/angry.gif

 

[American Dream]

I quite agree and sympathise.

It seems everyone books up the pitches months in advance.

I may not be renewing my Club membership for the C&CC For this very reason.:Angry:

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[New Rover]

It definitely is time that the CC and the C&CC took steps to keep ALL deposits paid for advanced bookings unless there is a genuine reason for no show. (illness etc etc).

If that doesn't work then after 3 no shows in the 1 year you are automatically diqualified from booking anything the following year.

Mind you, even although I cannot get on to a decent site this week-end it will not stop me from taking my van out on the road and look for a suitable parking spot each night.

 

[American Dream]

It definitely is time that the CC and the C&CC took steps to keep ALL deposits paid for advanced bookings unless there is a genuine reason for no show. (illness etc etc).

If that doesn't work then after 3 no shows in the 1 year you are automatically diqualified from booking anything the following year.

Mind you, even although I cannot get on to a decent site this week-end it will not stop me from taking my van out on the road and look for a suitable parking spot each night.

Totally Agree.:thumb:

 

[Wildman]

I haven't posted before but this is impossible to resist - a simple sum:

divide 2000 (number of sites) by 664,000 (number of touring units)

answer = 332.332 (pitches needed per site, to accommodate total units)

ergo = we are at home on Good Friday and our motorhome is on the drive because there are no pitches available, in any decent locations.

Nuff said!!http://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/images/smilies/angry.gif

Never heard of wild camping,:thumb: where is your pioneering spirit. We have never used a site in 40 years motorhoming. (all in the UK)

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[ginge61]

Never heard of wild camping,:thumb: where is your pioneering spirit. We have never used a site in 40 years motorhoming. (all in the UK)

well said thats what they are made for :thumb:

 

[bigfoot]

I booked a C&CC site and I was asked for a fairly chunky deposit. I had booked about a month in advance. I had to cancel within 5 days due to a family issue and lost my deposit.
A few years earlier I had booked onto another C&CC site and they cancelled due to flooding and kept my deposit!!!
I was in a local caravan accessory shop just after Christmas and overheard a conversation which annoyed me.
A rather pompous prig was bragging that as soon as the website opens he will book his list of CC sites and he knows he won't go to some of them,but he said it didn't bother him as he wasn't losing any thing. I intervened and told him HE might not lose anything but someone who wanted to stay there did lose out,this was met with a curt reply and no sign of embarrassment or remorse!!!

 

[californiadreamer]

point taken - but that's not REALLY the point!

We do wild camp - and we use our small RV all through the year - when most sites aren't open anyway! I was making the point that the statistics prove what we have always suspected.

However it appears you may have missed that.

It's a welcome change from wild camping to book into a site in a good location and know that you can relax and stay for several days without having to hide away or worry about being moved on.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[oldun]

Never heard of wild camping,:thumb: where is your pioneering spirit. We have never used a site in 40 years motorhoming. (all in the UK)

Wild camping is only possible because a very small number of people do it. If it became more popular then the local communities would be up in arms and this type of camping would be banned, with rigorous enforcement (as it would be easy to enforce).

 

[scotjimland]

Don't forget there are over 3,000 CLs / CS .. many will have spaces even at Easter

IMO better VFM than commercial sites.. unless of course you want a clubhouse and fancy showers.

 

[californiadreamer]

Yes - totally agree about the VFM on CS/CL's - however, particularly at this time of year, we have found many of them do not have hard-standing and that is the one thing we really need. Not fussed about leccy, toilets, showers etc - we always use on board facilities.

As for entertainment - and all singing etc... We make our own and usually prefer it too!

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[scotjimland]

Yes - totally agree about the VFM on CS/CL's - however, particularly at this time of year, we have found many of them do not have hard-standing and that is the one thing we really need.

Why ?
We have been on CLs since last October.. with no hard standing and it's an 8.5t RV ..

Ok, I agree you need to be careful and possible use boards to prevent the wheels sinking in .. and if moving off in the wet it can be tricky ... but now the weather is fair, ground is quite hard and it's a lot nicer sitting on a grass pitch than on gravel or concrete ..

Give me a CL any day .. we have about a 1/4 acre to ourselves, nearest neighbour about 100mt away.. grey water piped to the hedge, fresh water plumbed in, with 16A EHU .. with rabbits, squirrels , birds .. and pesky moles ..

£7 + metered leccy works out about £8 per day :thumb:

 

[californiadreamer]

Sold!

O.K. - You've sold me on CL/CS's. Now all we have to do is move down south - we're up in the wetlands here Lancs/Yorks and althought we'd like to make longer trips at weekends, the southbound motorways don't exactly add to the idea of a relaxing weekend.

It's easier to travel north,east or west - we can be in lots of beautiful places within 1-2 hours - we don't particularly mind the weather, we have all the right clothes but the ground can often be soft.

We have been towed out before now and didn't particularly enjoy it. We can usually drive where Fiat based M/h's can't butwe tend not to go on the grass unless it's rock hard.

Even the snow didn't stop us this year as we bought some chains. Ideally a hard road/track to a hardstanding with a nice piece of grass at the side to sit out on - but hard packed grass is also good, if the weather is dry (ish)

 

[scotjimland]

we're up in the wetlands here Lancs/Yorks

Well, that explains why you don't go on sites without hard standing.. and front wheel drive doesn't give you much of a grip, a heavy dew and your stuck .. :Sad:

but keep looking, there are some Cls with hard standing... and summer is almost here,

safe travels .. Jim

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[californiadreamer]

Thanks Jim - safe travels to you too.. Let's all hope for a drier summer than last year and lots of happy days to come...