Snowroads 90

Regions In Scotland
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Steve
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Snowroads 90

Post by Steve »

Letter sent re tourist route

Good evening could you please give my some advise on the suitability of your route for motorcaravans?
I am part of CAMpRA.org.uk and we are working with councils and other groups including the highland council to encourage the provision of safe motorcaravan parking and responsible disposal of waste.
We are working on several new routes throughout the UK to help to cope with the increase in staycations for the UK’s 357,000 motorcaravans.
We would like to assist existing routes to provide facilities and to allow our members to visit, stay locally and support the recovery of local businesses.
Most of our members find the network of campsites is unable to cope with the nomadic nature of the modern motorcaravan which are mainly self contained units only requiring somewhere to park and access to water and waste every few days and in use all year round.
I have attached our detailed strategy document which has seen very positive feedback from councils and professional bodies.
Please feel free to get in touch to discuss how we can assist you to avoid the problems of last year or visit our website www.campra.org.uk to access downloadable documents.
We are all motorcaravan owners and our Facebook group has grown from 200 in July to over 15,000 members in December.
Steve - CAMpRA Leadership Team
Steve
Posts: 4973
Joined: Wed Sep 23, 2020 11:31 am
Has thanked: 583 times
Been thanked: 593 times

Re: Snowroads 90

Post by Steve »

Still received no reply so emailed emergency recovery plan

Good morning , I did not receive a reply from my email below but I appreciate that you may be struggling during lockdown but we are concerned that if we are not prepared we will be hit by the anticipated staycation boom post lockdown and we would like to offer our support and recommendations to assist.

After 3 months of lockdown, holiday cancellations and travel restrictions, the UK witnessed the great escape. Thousands of UK tourists were forced to replace their holidays in the sun with a stay at home. With limited accommodation available we witnessed record sales, on tents, caravans and motor caravans as our UK residents took to the road and “Dirty Camping” was born. The inadequacies in our UK network of campsites to deal with spontaneous touring were exposed and scenes of appalling behaviour littered our media pages.
So what is in store for 2021?

· The 3 months became 12 months and now more of travel and Covid restrictions.

· There is already a palpable desire to get away on holiday.

· Travel to Europe is more difficult with Brexit.

· Covid restrictions remain in place in many overseas destinations.

· All those vulnerable elderly people with caravans or motorhomes are ready to go.

· Sales of motorhomes, caravans, campervans and tents have soared in the UK and Europe.

· 2020 showed campsites were all booked up even before lockdown finished, indeed most are already full for 2021.

· So more people will stay in the UK.

But one thing is certain those thousands of holiday makers will be out in force as soon as lockdown is lifted, whether or not they have a booking, whatever they are advised, or wherever they are asked not to go. There is nothing yet to suggest that the Staycation of 2021 will be any easier than 2020.

Our towns and small businesses are desperate for the extra footfall and tourist spending; so what have our councils done to prepare? So far they are telling us nothing. Do they have a strategy?

CAMpRA’s main purpose is to promote the creation of a network of Aires, overnight parking and service points for self contained-motor caravans in the UK. But we recognise this will not happen immediately. There is a desperate need for immediate and broader short-term solutions to forestall a pending national crisis, to avoid an even more chaotic situation for our visitors than that which greeted them last year and a very expensive clear up and enforcement operation.

Rather than just cry woe, we have given some thought to simple solutions that Local Authorities could implement to dispel some of the grief and turn this years holiday season into a release, a celebration and a pleasure rather than another unhappy battlefield between holidaymakers and authorities.

Please read the attached Emergency Staycation Recovery Plan. It is intended to help.

In some areas such as the narrow valleys in the congested hearts of our National Parks, or coastal towns it may seem difficult to accommodate some or all of our suggestions. But most of these areas have approach corridors and gateway towns where there is more elbowroom for temporary places to stay, which if co-ordinated with public transport may offer access to the walks and places people want to visit.

Apart from the absence of vacancies closer in to the hotspots, an incentive to use such ‘park and ride’ campsites would be to include a bus voucher in the price charged to stay. A strategy used to good effect in many German National Park areas.

Good temporary signage and public information would be essential for directions to temporary facilities.

The key is goodwill and a determination to seek positive solutions and good outcomes.


Emergency recovery document attached
Steve - CAMpRA Leadership Team
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