Young enjoy life on the go as motorhome sales soar
£50,000 on average, according to the industry trade body, that values total sales at more than half a billion pounds.
The rise in numbers is being put down to a combination of increasingly adventurous pensioners who have chosen to tour the roads of Britain and the Continent in camper vans in retirement, and the realisation among the young that motorhomes can be fashionable.
Jamie Oliver, the chef, and Kate Moss, the supermodel, are fans of the VW camper, a vehicle hugely popular with surfers and the adventurous who have lots of sporting or outdoors equipment. Vintage VW campers are now worth tens of thousands of pounds. Brexit may also be playing its part and is likely to fuel a further increase in motorhome sales in the second half of this year.
The pound’s fall against the euro and the dollar is expected to lead to increased numbers of “staycations”, holidays being taken in the UK by Britons, over the next few years, boosting sales of motorhomes, caravans and static vans in that time.
Figures supplied by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency show that 11,552 new motorhomes and camper vans were sold in the past year, up from 7,630 in the 12 months to June 2011. In the past year alone, sales rose by 16 per cent, up from fewer than 10,000 in the same 12-month period in 2015.
Louise Wood, a spokesman for the National Caravan Council (NCC), the trade body for caravans and motorhomes, said: “It is a significant rise and we are trying to work out exactly why that is. Motorhomes have lots of different proposes and their flexibility is fuelling the rise. They are great for families, for sporty types who have lots of gear and for the over-50s, the adventurous silver surfers, who have the money to buy new and have got the time to make the best of it.
“Among the young, VW campers are now super-trendy.”
The NCC reckons there are now more than 200,000 motorhomes on UK roads, and about 550,000 caravans. The number of caravans sold in the UK has remained broadly constant but the NCC reckons a number of caravan owners have switched to motorhomes in recent years. The rise of the motorhome and caravan may be good for the UK tourism business but will not please everyone. Jeremy Clarkson, the former host of BBC’s whose new show is about to air on Amazon Video, has long ranted against caravans and camper vans, accusing them of clogging up the countryside and calling them a menace.
The NCC said: “We are all entitled to our opinions on caravans but there are clearly a lot of people who love them. He might not like them but three quarters of a million people do.”