Welsh camping holidays see a 137% increase year on year.
Reducing the summer holidays from six to three weeks is one of the options being considered by the Welsh government to reshape the school year. The plans are to keep the same number of holiday weeks but spread them out over the year, meaning less time off in the summer period.
Dan Yates, Founder of outdoor holiday booking company, Pitchup, reveals caravan and camping holidays in Wales are the most popular amongst holidaymakers.
With avid caravanners and campers contributing a 34% share of nights, over half (54%) of these trips were self-catered.
“With the limited time of only three weeks for parents to take their children on holiday in the summer months alone, I anticipate that this shorter summer holiday gap will boost demand for tourism and see campsites booking up much quicker.
“During the pandemic, staycations were hugely popular. Now that the cost of living is increasing, many families will opt for a more affordable holiday much closer to home.
“Last year, camping in Wales was booming and from March 2021 to March 2022, we have seen just under 113,130 campsite bookings, as opposed to 47,826 bookings from March 2020 to March 2021, a 137% increase year-on- year.
“If these Government plans do go underway, we predict campsites and caravan parks will book up imminently in readiness for the summer season. Hence why we’re urging families to book their summer trips as soon as possible to beat the rush and avoid disappointment.
“Demand will certainly pick up in these three weeks, and prices may rise as accommodation providers try to capitalise on the increase in bookings. However, once this three week period settles in, we should demand more evenly spread during the year, and potentially a reduction in prices during off-peak periods, which could be tempting for Welsh families to book outside the peak season.
“Also, it has been government policy for many years to even out the tourism season throughout the year to reduce the seasonal peaks and troughs, enabling the development of the tourism sector, therefore this outcome would be ideal.
“The pandemic led to more staycation bookings, which saw people who had never been to a caravan or campsite before now realise what they had been missing. This will of course bring a lot of returning customers to the staycation industry as a whole in 2022.
“Data shows there has been a strong surge throughout the summer months of 2020 and 2021, with an average increase of 400%.
“Our data shows areas such as Isle of Anglesey, Conwy and Carmarthenshire have seen a surge in caravan and camping visitors from 2019 to 2022, indicating the North and North West of Wales to be a popular destination.
“This is in comparison to Monmouthshire in South East, which has seen a decrease in visitors over the years.”
Percentage of arrivals by county
|
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2019-22 increase |
|
|
Pembrokeshire |
22.4% |
27.6% |
24.8% |
21.9% |
-0.4% |
|
Gwynedd |
21.9% |
17.2% |
18.0% |
20.6% |
-1.3% |
|
Ceredigion |
11.0% |
8.9% |
7.8% |
10.5% |
-0.5% |
|
Powys |
10.5% |
13.7% |
12.9% |
10.3% |
-0.2% |
|
Glamorgan |
7.2% |
4.2% |
5.9% |
7.7% |
0.5% |
|
Denbighshire |
6.5% |
5.8% |
6.9% |
6.8% |
0.3% |
|
Carmarthenshire |
5.9% |
6.4% |
6.4% |
6.5% |
0.6% |
|
Conwy |
5.5% |
7.2% |
5.9% |
6.5% |
1.0% |
|
Isle of Anglesey |
3.7% |
4.1% |
6.6% |
6.4% |
2.8% |
|
Wrexham |
0.4% |
0.5% |
1.4% |
1.3% |
0.9% |
|
Monmouthshire |
3.8% |
2.9% |
2.1% |
0.8% |
-3.0% |
|
Flintshire |
1.2% |
1.4% |
1.3% |
0.6% |
-0.6% |
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
