Caravanning - the £6billion per year industry
To give you a head start in the caravan conversation stakes, we’ve pulled together some fascinating facts. There is nothing quite like a good fact to get the chatter started!
Did you know that there are more than a one million caravans in the UK? Over half of these are tourers, with at least 330,000 static caravans and more than 150,000 motorhomes.
Caravanning is valued at £6 billion per year – that takes into account sales, production, tourism spend, etc.
You may not be aware that 5.4 million people went on caravan holiday last year according to the Office of National Statistics, half a million more than the number of people staying in a B&B (4.9 million).
There’s certainly never any reason to be lonely as a caravanner – you’re part of a very big community and it’s a community with some very colourful members. Noted caravanners over the years have included Dame Helen Mirren, fashion guru Wayne Hemingway, Robbie Williams (who has used a motorhome while on tour) and Jamiroquai’s Jay Kay. Even Will Smith has been known to dabble, having been spotted in a two-storey motorhome complete with dance floor.
However, the prize for the world’s most over-the-top caravan probably goes to the mystery oil sheikh who asked Australian company Action Mobil to create the Desert Challenger at a cost of £1.43m. The 40ft motorhome, with its 13 litre engine and 2,500 litre fuel tank (and capacity for 4,000 litres of water) was designed to travel independently across the desert for several weeks and took more than a year and a half to build.
You may think caravanning seems like a very British institution, and you’d not be far wrong. More touring caravans are sold in the UK than any other European country. We overtook our nearest rival – Germany – several years ago and have stayed proudly at the top of the caravan race ever since.
No surprise then that the British Isles are home to more than 3,000 caravan parks, ranging from the basic to those boasting on-site entertainment, leisure centres and multi-sports courts.
The British love of caravanning goes back to the early 20th century, when it was a pastime enjoyed by the rich – you could even hire caravans from Harrods and Fortnum and Mason.
However, caravans go back much further than this. Dickens’ Old Curiosity Shop, written in 1841, featured a character that lived in a caravan; they were widely used across the Middle East many centuries ago, and were referred to by Marco Polo in the 13th century. The word ‘caravan’ is believed to come from the Persian ‘karwan’, which is also the origin of the word ‘van’.
More recently, caravanning’s green credentials are often cited as one of the hobby’s plus points, something which this next fact seems support:
One return flight from Heathrow to JFK in New York is enough to keep 2,000 caravanners in petrol for an entire year.
Certainly something to think about when you’re wondering what to do for your next holiday!
