The research has been commissioned by the Economic Impact Research Group (EIRG), which carried out a similar survey in Scotland in 2014, but this is the first time that the whole of the UK has been covered.
The EIRG expect the results to show just how important caravan and camping are to the tourism industry. There are over 130 caravan parks and campsites in Northern Ireland.
Both park-owners and visitors are being asked to take part by completing online questionnaires, an approach which will ensure a balanced and complementary input of information. Park-owners are asked all about their park and visitors about their holiday, where they went, what they did, how much they spent. There are incentives for both park-owners and visitors, with names of those completing the questionnaire going into a prize-draw
Bob Hill, Sites Director of the Camping and Caravanning Club and a member of the EIRG, said “The caravan-park sector has long been regarded as generating relatively little income to the UK compared with other sectors, but in 2014 we demonstrated that there was an income of £700 million to Scotland and we have no doubt that the figures for UK will be substantial.”
John McGrillen, Tourism NI Chief Executive, has given the survey his full support and commented: “This report will demonstrate the significant impact of the holiday park sector on the UK economy and I would encourage all park-owners to complete the survey, to ensure we have robust data to demonstrate the contribution of caravan parks to Northern Ireland tourism.”
