Open Air Business February 2017

ACCOMMODATION
MARK SCOTT
Having identified a way to rejuvenate the changing holiday park scene through glamping,
Industry Legends
Mark Scott turned his attention to creating the UK’s leading safari tent supplier
PROFILE
Name: Mark Scott
Role: CEO
Company: Clear Sky
Contact: 0845 299 6484 / 07802
847213 / mark.scott@safaritents.
net / www.safaritents.net
Favourite tipple: Red wine in
the winter and white wine in the
summer, if it ever gets here.
Last holiday destination:
Chamonix, searching for snow.
Cats or dogs? I have a springer
spaniel called Tick-Tock, named by
my young son Cameron.
Current boxset / TV must watch:
Man in the High Castle – because
it’s based on a cat in a box that was
dead and alive.
Something people may not know
about me: I like murdering the
guitar.
How you got started in the
business
I was an IT project manager,
and found myself working at
Haven Holidays in the old Rank
Leisure days where I spent many
very happy and informative
years looking at and analysing
marketing and customer data. I
then spread my wings, and started
providing data analytics to many
of the larger holiday groups.
Around 2007, this analysis led to
a realisation that the market was
changing and the demands of
the clients were for higher quality
and more adventurous holiday
experiences. Selling caravans
was getting more difficult so,
to attract a new demographic, I
considered glamping as an option.
It was a way of getting to different
people who would never normally
consider a caravan park as a
destination or consider buying a
caravan. High-quality tents with
proper beds, kitchens and shower
rooms would attract a new set of
people that would go on to buy
statics and lodges on the same
parks.
The history of Clear Sky
Clear Sky was formed six years
ago, to market and sell safari tents
to the holiday park market. In
the beginning, we spent a lot of
time educating potential clients
what exactly glamping involved.
We worked hard to prove the ROI
to landowners and holiday parks
alike. To get the ball rolling, we
set up our own glamping site on
my farm so we could provide real
numbers and demonstrate how it
can help a landowner, or farmer,
improve the income from their
operations.
Our first challenge was to find
“THERE ARE
NO CROWN
POSTS,
SO THE
INTERNAL
SPACE IS
FULLY OPEN,
AND NO GUY
LINES SO
THERE IS
LESS IN THE
WAY OF TRIP
HAZARDS”
a design that would work for
the holiday park market as well
as the farmer and landowner.
I approached a number of UK
companies, but none were able
to provide the high quality and
low price we were aiming at,
so we teamed up with a factory
in Europe. From the start, we
have maintained a high-quality
approach to both our products
and our service, and this has
paid off through many long-term
relationships with the major
park groups, as well as with land
owners and smaller camping and
touring parks. In our first year, I
sold one tent, and that was rather
by accident. We now sell over 150
tents a year in the UK, and have
exported to France, New Zealand,
Greece and Portugal.
The appeal of Clear Sky safari
tents to glampsites
The Clear Sky tents are all the
highest quality, made from
fireproof canvas, and designed
to be left up all year round and
withstand the harshest UK
weather. Our range of safariinspired
tents provide flexible
layouts perfect for the family and
couples market, and with our large
size, double storey tents our clients
can maximise their night rate with
some achieving over £450 per
night in peak season. There are no
crown posts, so the internal space
is fully open, and no guy lines
so there is less in the way of trip
hazards. The tents come in a range
of colours and sizes to make sure
the client has the best option to
suit their specific situation.
The ‘tent to income’ ratio is
excellent, and we would expect
a site to make back its capital
investment within the first year. We