The future of Holiday Park sales

As we approach the end of 2008 the static holiday caravan park industry is reflecting on this year and looking towards 2009.

It is certain that the holiday park industry has benefited in 2008 from a renewed interest from UK consumers in static caravan holidays and both searches on line and bookings have shown a substantial increase. This move comes as a result of customers reducing spend on overseas holidays due to financial concerns as well poor exchange rates and environmental pressure regarding air travel.

In general static caravan sales teams have had a tougher year and most major UK national park operators are showing a small ,yet important reduction in sales as consumers cut back on luxury purchases. Some parks have reported resilient sales for cheaper, lower specification and second hand sited vans with luxury high end product such as lodges being  the most difficult to sell in the current climate.

Any reduction in caravan sales is of great concern to the industry as holiday parks make a large percentage of their profits from caravan sales. If this downturn is to continue the increased holiday sales revenue may not be enough for them to balance the books. Over the past few weeks we have seen unbelievable volatility in the global financial markets and this media coverage will do nothing to help this situation in the short term. Many feel the outlook for 2009 depends greatly on how quickly the UK economy can recover and whether we will see positive media coverage towards the summer of 2009.

It is yet to been seen if the boom in holiday bookings will have a positive effect on static caravan sales, however many people within the industry feel that this increased interest in the product can only be a good thing as more and more customers on holidays can be made aware of the benefits of ownership.

With the growth of the holiday market park operators may be keen to increase capacity and the number of vans available for let and customer ownership has always been a cost effective way from them to achieve this. To promote ownership opportunities we would expect to see special offers in 2009 including free 1 year pitch fees and improved rental revenue schemes for new owners.

We may see customers investing in long term British holidays with the purchase of a Static caravan whilst offsetting the cost by subletting to a buoyant rental market even if the purchase is made on finance.

For those with assets to purchase outright a static holiday home may provide a long term and tangible lifestyle benefits without the risks involved with property and stock market investments.