CAMpRA conducts survey for motorhome owners
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CAMpRA survey reveals aires would encourage local spending
For motorhome owners, aires offer a cost-effective overnight parking solution and flexibility for exploring surrounding areas.
However, they are often tricky to locate and not typically known to the wider community of motorhome and campervan lovers.
Nathaniel Cureton Content Editor
Nathaniel Cureton Content Editor
A survey conducted by the campaign group, CAMpRA (the Campaign for Real Aires), has found that over 80% of motorhome and campervan owners would visit and spend in a new area, if said area had accessible aires.
The survey, conducted to understand the ‘behaviours, preferences and economic impact of motorcaravan users in the UK’, revealed that aires in the UK, along with service points, and both overnight and day parking options in desirable locations are lacking by comparison to other European countries.
CAMpRA carried out the survey online, and promoted it through social media. The survey received 6,731 responses over a 10-week period.
Here's what the survey revealed:
- 90% owned a fully self-contained motorhome
- Peak usage of motorhomes occur in May, June, and September
- 33% admitted to sleeping in laybys due to overnight parking restrictions in towns and city centres
- From that, 85% said they would prefer to use a mix of aires and campsites depending on availability
- The top priorities for overnight stops are safety, proximity to towns, service access, and dog-friendliness
- Respondents would be prepared to pay £10 for aires without services, and £15 for services such as waste disposal and water
Steve Haywood, Managing Director at CAMpRA, commented
What we’re trying to show with this survey is that there is a clear demand – emphasised by post-Brexit travel restrictions limiting UK motorcaravans to 90-day stays in Europe – for more overnight stay options in UK towns and cities, and that those towns and cities could benefit hugely by embracing motorcaravans.
More councils are seeing the benefits of providing facilities over the cost to local taxpayers of enforcement and bans, not to mention the loss of potential revenue to businesses. In Fleetwood, Lancashire, for example, the introduction of overnight parking on the seafront car park for £5 per night has seen a huge boost in revenue for local shops, and has been so successful that additional facilities are now being planned for motorcaravanners to build on this.
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