Here are our top industry insights from the Conference:

Increase in Staycation Holidays
Brexit and the decrease in the pound are encouraging more people to choose holidays closer to home. This continued increase in local holidays gives leisure parks a fantastic opportunity to increase their market.

Affordable Luxury:
While customers want an affordable holiday closer to home, customers are seeking high quality accommodation and have come to expect double glazing, central heating and eco-friendly caravans, lodges as standard. Hot tubs remain a big draw to customers of all ages as well. Gone are the days when the decision about which holiday park to choose revolves around the evening entertainment, today the key driver is the quality of the holiday home and infrastructure. Holiday parks need to stand out in the marketplace with a unique offer to avoid a price war.

Future Proof Technology to Support Growth
Holiday park operators are to capitalise on technology and innovation in order to progress in a changing and challenging market. The customer experience spans pre-stay, on-site and follow up. Operators need to provide a joined up, competitive and of course, positive offering. As more and more customers are looking for unique experiences and with the rise in online bookings leading to more choice and flexibility, holiday parks must ensure that all areas of their business such as shops, on-site services and leisure facilities fulfil customer expectations.

Reputation Management
With an increasingly competitive marketplace parks need to take a proactive approach to on-site maintenance and investment in the park’s infrastructure to keep a good customer reputation. By actively seeking to ensure the park is well monitored, serviced and fixed in advance, holiday operators can be reassured customers will have a positive experience. It’s too easy for customers to quickly turning to social media to complain about a bad experience which can have an impact on bookings.