We’ve been noting over the past year that the ‘staycation’ is on the rise, and this information has not been anecdotal, obviously we do see reports from the odd independent caravan park, but the figures coming through from the big national operators has to date confirmed the rise.
There has to be an upper limit of bookings, which can’t be broken, but that hasn’t been reached and we are still seeing rise upon rise as the seasons turn over.
The latest report comes from Hoseasons. It may be that their television campaign is responsible from the rise in bookings, but it would be difficult to differentiate bookings arising from a national trend and bookings arising from a targeted television campaign. That could only be done with access to their competitors’ domestic January booking stats.
Overall, bookings are up 10% on the same period last year, which was in itself a healthy period. The big winner this year is Cornwall with a whopping 33% increase in bookings. It was closely followed by Devon with a 23% increase (we’re not sure if ‘Broadchurch’ had anything to do with that as has been claimed by one park owner in the area).
Overall the area of the South West has had a 23% increase in bookings. It isn’t clear which periods the bookings were for, so it could simply be a case that people have learnt from last year’s booking chaos, and are booking well ahead this year.
If you want to see what the fuss is all about with the South West, then have a look at our Devon and Cornwall pages where we have a lot of holiday locations on offer from Haven Holidays, Park Resorts, and Park Holidays, not just Hoseasons.
By: Gareth Whieldon
