Nine out of ten Britons detest camping, according to travel website Holiday Extras.
Holiday Extras, a UK-based online company providing pre-booked UK airport hotels and parking and a part of Holiday Extras ltd, said that its survey of 2,000 people showed that 90 per cent considered camping and caravanning the least enjoyable type of break.
‘Brits hate camping holidays most of all, even in cash-strapped recessionary times,’ it said.
However, the poll results have been challenged by Dan Yates, the founder of camping website Pitchup.com, says a report by the Telegraph. ‘We launched Pitchup.com back in 2009 and this is the most outrageous statistic we’ve seen to date,’ he told trade website Travelmole.
‘Indeed you only have to look at stats from GBTS (Great Britain Tourism Survey) which shows in 2011 17 million Brits took a camping or caravanning trip in Great Britain. This compares to just 6 million UK holidaymakers who visited France and 10 million who visited Spain,’ he said.
Endorsing the results, Anthony Clarke-Cowell, communications director at Holiday Extras, said that the survey is ‘robust and conclusive’. ‘At Holiday Extras, we appreciate that each holidaymaker has their own personal preferences, and of course we embrace, encourage and cater for them,’ he said, adding: ‘However, let’s face it, the way we holiday has evolved beyond recognition over the past 50 years, and whilst Brits would have once flocked to pitch a tent, our results have shown that they’re now looking for creature comforts, whether enjoying a weekend break in the UK or an indulgent two weeks in the sun.’
The Telegraph also claims that many of its travel readers were still attracted to camping- spending their holidays under canvas. While the daily received significant response last year to a call for tips on the best campsites around Britain, Telegraph Travel’s Neil Tweedie however detests camping: ‘Why would a sane human being in possession of a solid, brick-built house exchange hot water and central heating for the shelter afforded by a big nylon bag? And pay for it!’, he reportedly said in one of his articles.
