Post Covid Staycation

Post COVID Staycation – Caravan Parks and New Holiday Makers

The past few months have affected every single one of us in many different ways, how we live, work, socialise and go on holiday.  I want to focus on changes to how the UK population are affected in relation to going on holiday in 2020 and what it means for the UK caravan holiday.

Many of us are used to filling a suitcase (or two) and heading to the airport at this time of year to fly off into the sunshine for a couple of weeks.  In recent weeks as things started to relax slightly some did head off to mainland Europe in search of a relaxing sunshine holiday to forget about the last few months.  Unfortunately some found themselves having to isolate at home for two weeks on their return to the UK.  Due to the quickly changing situation no-one can be guaranteed a hassle free break, without quarantine, especially if we are to keep the rate low in the UK.  For a large proportion of the population, this might be the first time in many years that they have taken their main holiday in the UK.  People have talked of the ‘staycation’ for a long time, for a number of us, this is our long term normal.

I speak of those of us who camp, tour with caravans or have static caravans on holiday parks.  We started camping about ten years back.  As someone who had worked in the construction industry and lived in touring caravans at different points in my career; I was a reluctant camper.  Our first year was two weeks in the south-west of England.  We bought a Halfords camping pack for £99.00 which included inflatable beds, sleeping bags and a single ring gas stove.  A couple of chairs, table and some other extras from Aldi and we were set for our first camping holiday.  I was immediately hooked.  The tent only just held out for the two weeks as we had a few days of torrential rain and it started to leak, but that did not put us off.  We explored places we had planned to see and many we had not even heard of.  We found a camaraderie on camp sites that we had never experienced before.  At this point we had one dog and we enjoyed taking him everywhere with us, as with many other parts of daily life dogs are great conversation starters.  We also found that campers are very helpful towards each other, especially when setting up or dismantling in inclement weather.  The other thing about camping is the inherent trust, leaving a considerable amount of kit in a field whilst out exploring for the day.  There is also a general acceptance of maintaining a relatively quiet environment after about 10pm, recognising that every noise can be heard from a tent.

We quickly moved on to bigger and better tents, picking up more kit as we went along.  The car needed a roof box to accommodate all of the additional kit.  This continued for a few years before we upgraded to a folding camper.  We had a Pennine Sterling for about five years, using it not only for our two week summer break but also for numerous weekends away throughout the year.  This extended our season from March through to October and really did feel like a ‘home from home’ wherever we went.  Due to it being quite unusual it was always a great conversation starter on camping parks, we have made and maintained some great friendships as a result of owning ‘Pennie’ and her successors.  We had an Esterel folding caravan which was 25 years old and was a bit of a restoration project, we added roller blinds, re-upholstered the cushions and even added a small chandelier, this gave us a twelve month season and we celebrated New Year in a caravan for the first time ever.  The camaraderie on the Camping and Motorhome club site on New Year’s Eve was amazing, with the wardens hosting a drinks party early evening, everyone standing around in winter coats and gloves enjoying drinks and nibbles.  This continued and we bought a Gobur folding caravan, much more modern and spacious and using it all year round.  Finally, we decided we wanted to have a regular spot somewhere and we opted to put a caravan on a seasonal touring pitch.  We kept the Gobur for touring and loved having the seasonal pitch for use every weekend.  We now have a static caravan on the same park.

I know from the people we meet on touring sites and other static caravan owners that we have come through similar journeys from camping to touring to static ownership.  The mutual respect, friendship and the willingness to help each other out runs through almost everyone on the parks.  Covid is changing this.  Our current ‘normal’ is seeing many more people booking caravan holidays for the first time ever, some will endure it and never do it again, others will love it and become hooked.  Unfortunately the large park owners are exploiting the situation, not only in terms of costs, but also in selling caravans to complete newbies who will buy in haste and no doubt repent at leisure (but probably not in the caravan).

We are witnessing a family member buying a caravan with the great intent of allowing the extended family to use the van.  This is quite similar to those taking rental vans for a short time. Unfortunately, many of these people have not experienced caravan holidays before and arrive with a ‘Magaluf’ mentality.  Arrive on park, no control of their children and play music loudly until the early hours, just like they do on holiday abroad.  They have no understanding of how noise travels out of their metal box to others around them. This causes disharmony with the neighbouring caravan owners who have generally evolved into caravan ownership as I have described.  The park owners are only interested in the ‘fast’ buck from both rentals and from sales, not really thinking about the long term effect when foreign holidays become more accessible and stress free, probably when a Covid Vaccine is available.  Many new owners will want to sell up and be shocked at the loss over a short period of time.  The long term owners are already starting to worry about the next year or so, how will life on the parks they love and know so well change?  How long will it last and will it ever go back to how it was?  One thing I do know is that if the park owners fail to show some respect and consideration for their long term customers it will all end badly, this quick buck from Covid might well be their last.