Motorhome owners now carry the torch for touring
Motorhome owners are the "new romantics" among holidaymakers, preferring travel, discovery and adventure to the lure of putting their feet up for a fortnight.
That's the conclusion of a survey made by top Lake District park Skelwith Fold of the way in which owners used their motorhomes over the 2010 holiday season.
The romance of travel and the discovery of new horizons appears to be the driving force behind people's decisions to invest in such vehicles, said the park's Henry Wild.
By contrast, touring caravan owners prefer to spend their time getting to know a holiday region in more depth, rather than waking up each morning to a different view from their window.
Over 20,000 stays on the park this year were analysed by Skelwith Fold by contrasting the number of nights booked with the type of unit occupying each pitch.
The study also looked at how far each guest had travelled to the park, and whether it was a first-time visit or a repeat experience from this or previous years.
"The picture to emerge was very interesting because it suggests that touring caravans are these days much less likely to actually tour," said Henry.
"There is a popular image of caravan owners spending their holidays moving around a region such as the North West, Scotland or the West Country.
"In reality, many prefer to base themselves for all or a substantial part of their stay in one location, and to become more intimate with what the area has to offer," he added.
Today, says Henry, the touring torch has been picked by motorhome owners who are more likely to make just one or two night stays on parks before re-joining the road to discovery.
Also according to Skelwith's research, motorhome owners return less frequently to the same park than do touring caravan owners - and, on average, are likely to live further away.
The majority of touring caravan owners live between 40-100 miles away from the park, but figures rise to 90-200 miles for motorhome owners, indicating one or more stop-offs en-route.
The park's study also showed that motorhome families generally book their accommodation closer to the holiday date, tending towards a more impromptu pattern of decision-making.
"What I think these findings tell us is that the romantic notion of touring is still alive and well, but that those to whom it appeals now prefer a motorhome to hitching up," said Henry.
"But touring caravans remain immensely popular too, and their comfort levels now give them a very close affinity to static holiday homes - which is how many people today use them.
"And I'm sure that in their own ways, both types of customer are just as romantic as each other when they come to a park such as Skelwith!" he added.
Skelwith Fold Caravan Park (www.skelwith.com) is set in the grounds of a former country mansion near Ambleside, and this year added an exclusive new super-pitch area to its facilities.