Campsites were inundated with enquiries recently after it was announced that they would be reopening on July 4. Uncertainty over international travel saw Britons flock to online booking sites for UK holiday hotspots. Indie Campers, a company that owns Europe’s largest fleet of campervans for customers to rent, experienced a surge in bookings.
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Hugo Olivera, CEO at Indie Campers said that domestic bookings rocketed this year since May.
“About 70 percent of our travellers experience their first road trip with us.
“Based on our recent booking patterns, since May this percentage has become even higher,” says Hugo Oliveira, CEO of Indie Campers.
“In the UK alone, we observed a 31 percent increase in domestic bookings compared to 2019,” he added.
But now the site has seen a surge in search data over the past two weeks for European destinations.
The latest search data suggests that about 18 percent of users are looking up campervan holiday options in Europe.
Despite the Spain and France making the UK’s exemption list, the most searched country is neither of those destinations.
In fact, 21 percent of the total searches are looking up destinations in Ireland.
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Many are choosing to be closer to home and avoid post-lockdown travel overseas.
After Ireland, travellers are looking at destinations such as France, Spain and Iceland.
Camping and campervan holidays have experienced a surge recently due to being outdoors and allowing people to easily isolate.
Although some people are nervous to go abroad, camping and campervan holidays offer Britons the opportunity to visit another country but avoid airports and planes.
The UK government released a list of countries exempt from quarantine rules.
This means that if Britons decide to travel to that country, they will not face 14 days of quarantine when they return.
However, some countries are still imposing their own quarantine rules.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) website says: “On 4 July our travel advice changed, with exemptions for travelling to certain countries and territories that no longer pose a high risk for British travellers.
“View the list of exempted destinations.
“We continue to advise against non-essential international travel, except to countries and territories listed.
We are monitoring the international situation very closely and keeping this advice under constant review so that it reflects our latest assessment of risks to British people.
“We take a range of factors into account.
“For coronavirus, this includes the incidence rate and the resilience of healthcare provision in each country.”
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