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INDUSTRY INSIGHTS DAN YATES<br />
▲ The range of types of campsite or campground on Pitchup.com is continuosly growing with more added every week.<br />
69% for a caravan pitch and for<br />
North Yorkshire 66% for a tent<br />
and 60% for a caravan pitch.<br />
And you don’t have to wait<br />
until next year to start to see<br />
the shift in booking habits; the<br />
cost of living increase is already<br />
impacting the way people book<br />
on Pitchup.com. This year we’re<br />
seeing more winter arrivals than<br />
ever before as people snap up<br />
off-peak bargains, with arrivals up<br />
169% compared to pre-pandemic.<br />
What is currently the<br />
biggest challenge in the<br />
camping industry?<br />
Our industry has gained a host<br />
of new customers who’ve (re)<br />
discovered camping during<br />
the pandemic, the challenge is<br />
retaining them.<br />
The question will be: how can<br />
camping meet the expectations<br />
of a changing audience (goodquality<br />
facilities, on-park dining,<br />
wifi for digital nomads for<br />
example) while preserving and<br />
even enhancing the immersion<br />
in nature that sets it apart from<br />
conventional tourism?<br />
What is currently the<br />
biggest opportunity in the<br />
camping industry?<br />
Our biggest challenge<br />
also presents our biggest<br />
opportunity. If we can build on<br />
the momentum of recent years<br />
to embed the unique attractions<br />
of an outdoor holiday in the<br />
popular imagination, we can<br />
permanently take market share<br />
from hotels and holiday lets.<br />
And the shift is already<br />
happening. In Q3 last year,<br />
when Airbnb, Expedia and<br />
Booking.com were reporting<br />
reductions in room nights sold,<br />
we reported over 80% growth.<br />
What are the future plans<br />
for Pitchup?<br />
We want to make it even<br />
easier for our customers to<br />
book outdoor holidays and<br />
for our clients to offer them.<br />
We’re therefore in the process<br />
of launching our new mobile<br />
website, with a new desktop<br />
website to follow, and we’re<br />
building on our 80+ booking<br />
system integrations to help<br />
our clients manage booking<br />
admin. We are also expanding<br />
internationally, adding more<br />
staff members in more countries<br />
that speak more languages.<br />
If you could change one<br />
thing about the industry,<br />
what would it be and why?<br />
It is such a fragmented<br />
industry, made up mostly of<br />
thousands of independentlyrun<br />
sites, so it’s not always<br />
clear quite how significant its<br />
contribution is and it can often<br />
be overlooked.<br />
According to VisitBritain, it<br />
hosts more domestic bednights<br />
than any other accommodation<br />
type, despite online booking<br />
rates still some way below other<br />
categories. Imagine the potential<br />
if it enjoyed the ease of booking<br />
we’re used to elsewhere!<br />
It is by far the most<br />
important source of overnight<br />
visitors to the countryside,<br />
sending vital footfall to hardpressed<br />
rural high streets. Not<br />
only do campsites typically have<br />
few facilities onsite, but pitch<br />
prices are low - so campers<br />
can play a crucial role in the<br />
recovery of domestic tourism,<br />
which lost an estimated £150bn<br />
during the pandemic.<br />
*Source: National Statistics<br />
www.campingtradeworld.com | 45
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