The holiday park industry has had a fantastic year during 2018, with developments in technology supporting the increased demand for staycations in the UK.
Up and down the country, holiday and caravan parks have thrived with the long hot summer really showcasing the full beauty the 7,723 miles of coastline, 69 cities, 46 Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and 15 national parks the UK offers.
As we journey into 2019, we wanted to take a look at the key highlights from the year and also share some of our own successes.
A Year of Good News
As an industry, we emerged from a snowy start to the year, overshadowed by the big Brexit cloud of uncertainty to prove that doom and gloom won’t stop the British public from travelling and enjoying their country. A report from HolidayParkScene even suggested that travel plans outside of the UK were going to be discouraged! On the positive side, it’s clear that the full appeal of holiday and caravan parks is as prevalent as ever. The most recent data from the National Caravan Council found that, UK caravan owners alone spent a huge £2 billion on their holidays. That’s a lot of potential for caravan parks across the country.
Historically, we always find that the start of a year brings a lot of change. Traditionally the quietest period for holiday parks, many close down temporarily to refurbish parts of their facilities. However, this year, we saw more technological change than previously with park owners auditing the digital side of their business in addition to the physical side.
It’s clear that a strong technical side to a holiday park helps both the customer experience exceed expectations and the back office get the job done quickly, therefore, making the need for reliable software, a top priority in 2018. One of our fantastic clients, RoyaleLife, underwent a large expansion, resulting in a number of new parks across the UK, all supported by our industry-leading EliteParks software.
In our world, the end of 2018 saw a fantastic achievement for the whole team here at Elite Dynamics, with a hat trick of new clients choosing to work with us. All three parks went live with the new technology in time for the start of the New Year. Not only did this make it easier for the parks to receive and manage sales opportunities, they were also able to effectively promote their facilities and offers, at the precise time their target customers were starting to think about booking 2019 holidays.
The UK Top Destinations In The UK
In terms of where was most popular over the course of 2018, holiday cottage giant Sykes found that it was the gorgeous South West region that took the crow
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South West England
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North Wales
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Cumbria and the Lake District
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North York Moors
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Yorkshire Dales
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Peak District
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Heart of England
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East Anglia
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South Wales
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Highlands and Scottish Islands
To round off our year working with holiday parks across the UK, our founder Jamaine Campbell quoted: “We’ve had a really strong 12 months and we’re looking forward to carrying this through into 2019 with the launch of some more innovative products and services. I’m particularly proud of the commitment of the project teams – especially by managing to deliver three new customers ‘going live’ in the same week in December. This was a great achievement for us and is testament to the team’s ongoing efforts and belief in the solution.”
If 2019 is your year for expansion and you’d like to find out more about how EliteParks could help to benefit your own business, please do get in touch with us to request a demo so we can show you what it’s all about!