Caravan crisis as families commit to Britain

Supplies of Britain's favourite seaside accommodation - the static caravan - are fast drying up, warns a major holiday parks group.

Park Holidays UK says that stocks of used caravans for sale have reached "crisis point" as large numbers of people decide to make a long-term commitment to holidays in Britain.

According to director Tony Clish, they are being influenced by the rising cost of overseas holidays, and the Met Office's prediction of a summer scorcher in Britain.

Sales of holiday caravans at Park Holidays UK, says Tony, are currently running at 14 percent above last year's figures.

The greatest demand, he reports, is from first-time buyers of caravan holiday homes, most of whom buy a pre-used unit as their initial step on the second-home ladder.

This week, Park Holidays UK posted an urgent message on its website, asking for owners of good quality caravan holiday homes to get in touch if they wanted to sell.

"It's a seller's market for good quality pre-loved caravan holiday homes - and we're taking the unusual step of inviting owners on other parks to let us quote them a price for their unit," said Tony.

"They could well find that the deal on offer is enough to tempt them to sell up, and perhaps buy a brand new caravan holiday home on one of our parks," he added.

Park Holidays UK owns 25 parks in south and west England, and annually provides over a million holiday bed-nights to holiday homes owners and those renting a caravan for a holiday.

Supplies of new caravan holiday homes are less of a problem, commented Tony, despite recent wide-scale cut-backs in their output by UK manufacturers.

Park Holidays UK, he said, had anticipated a possible famine of new units some months back, and bought-up millions of pounds of available stock.

But although the boom in demand for second-hand caravans was creating a short-term headache, Tony believes that the long-term prognosis for UK holidays is excellent:

"British holidaymakers have had a hundred-year love affair with caravan holiday homes by the sea, and there are now over a third of a million caravans on parks in Britain.

"Such units are usually a fraction of the price of cottages, and enable ordinary folk to own a second home without pushing up local house prices or creating "ghost villages" of empty properties.

"If we can help stimulate demand even more by offering top prices for used units, it will be a win-win situation for everyone," he added.

For more information visit ParkHolidaysUK.com.