Prices too high or falling interest in camping

Interest is camping is certainly falling. The evidence is plain. Cornwall is summer holiday country par excellence, but Club sites here have abundant vacancies through July and August.

The small group of older people who post on here are sticking  to their well established routines, but the great mass of British people are taking holidays in other ways. 

Touring with a caravan is fading fast.

I agree that touring is fading and I think that is partly the initial outlay cost. The caravan we bought in 2014 for £20000 is now £36000.

However I am not sure that is the only reason for empty pitches in Cornwall. Having gone to Cornwall every other year for many years we have decided not to go again. 

The last time we went the standard of driving and the speed on the little narrow roads horrified us, all the car parks were full by ten o'clock, and the CL owner told us 'all the bl....y tourists coming to Cornwall bringing Covid' but not shutting his own site to cut down on numbers made us decide not to go again.

Please don’t judge us all by one experience of a grumpy CL owner. Visitors are welcome and our economy depends largely on the tourist trade.

The Covid years saw the world and his wife visiting Cornwall. It was exceptionally busy and we could hardly set foot outside the door but normal times have resumed and the place is worth visiting again.

In general, local people drive confidently on our roads because they can judge the width of their vehicles and tend to get frustrated by visitors who crawl along hesitantly and, in many cases, don’t know how to reverse when needed. 

We’ve only ever used Marazion Club Site when visiting Cornwall. Never found the others particularly well located for our likes. We spent 20 years using a small family run camping site, until it was sold on, doubled in size, then was sold on again, and is now Glamping Pods. Quite a few campsites seem to have changed or gone now, it’s just change. Much like Cornwall itself I suppose. It was fairly quiet, even in Summer when we used to spend weeks at a time down there. Places like Fowey, stunningly beautiful, still had “proper” shops, butchers, bakers, newsagents, hardwear stores. Over time it was discovered and the town centre is now all expensive eateries, niche tourist shops, and you cannot move in July/August. Same has happened to Hayle, we couldn’t believe the difference when down in 2018, and again more so in 2021. Away from the towns though, it’s still very beautiful. 

I agree with Tinny as well. There are visitors to Cornwall who have no conception of how to drive on the County’s tiny roads. Nor what size of vehicle will fit🤣 

The canny don’t go to Cornwall in late July/August. There are still some fantastic places to stay, and how much you pay for your outfit isn’t relevant. We bought a small caravan in 1996 for £2000. Still got it, it owes us nothing, it isn’t insured, it’s stored at home. Zilch cost. Motorhome? That cost us a good bit more, but it was secondhand. It’s a much sought after model, and hasn’t depreciated in price after ten years of ownership, as newbies will still pay whatever is asked. That is insured, but not costing an arm or a leg, and again stored at home. So not exactly costing an arm and a leg to enjoy. 
There are lots of folks like us at the moment who like camping because we can only go at the drop of a hat, can’t stay long, but enjoy even a couple of days away. There are a lot of folks who cannot for one reason or another hop onto a plane and fly somewhere, because a health condition won’t permit this, and I’m not just talking insurance costs. We live miles from a decent airport, so it’s a day to get somewhere, and a day back stuck in a lounge. Train transport? Love it, but the timetabling is abysmal, and you never know if there will be a strike. We can’t even get a ruddy train up to Newcastle and back without a wait of five hours at York for a connection onwards! York is 35 minutes from home! So we have to drive there and back. Folks have to make choices that suit, and thankfully we can still do very cheap touring, along with cottages, hotels. 

On the subject of prices and in particular our beloved Marazion (where we were wardens 2006 to 2010), I discovered on another thread that it reopened this week,at £20 per night for up to two people.  Apart from main skule holidays when it is £30.  A bargain!

Not sure who St Aubyn Estates have got in to manage it, it’s on Pitchup website.

It would certainly have been priced higher if CAMC still had it!

The OP states "....a falling interest in camping". I think that should read "....a falling interest in caravanning".

There are plenty of camper vans and motorhomes out there and quite a lot of them finding much cheaper ways to put their feet up at night that isn't on a campsite but the demographics for caravanning is changing. No longer a pastime that mid 30s+ find interesting/worth the effort/ economical/"cool" (which is what some new campervanners especially feel. My opinion only). So it's left to existing caravaners to keep replacing their caravans until they decide that the towing/hassle  gets too much and either give up or buy a Motorhome.

Maybe prices are too high on club sites, maybe not, depends on your view and disposable income. They certainly make me look at alternatives. I'm glad there are still members prepared to pay those fees but I do think the club faces a challenging future.

We, caravanners, are on a THS at the moment where the vast majority of units are M/Hs and camper-vans, and this seems to be one of the ways that the lowering of cost of touring, as suggested by WN, is being accomplished, as the cost is well under £10 pn!

We have been caravanning and motorhomimg for around 40 years but usually go abroad. Occasionally we use Club sites but I have noticed that prices have gone up considerably this year. Personally we don’t like the Club’s regimented sites but that’s just a question of personal taste. The most expensive site we use in France is now 25 euros (ACSI) rate, around £20 fully inclusive. Individual hedged pitches, electricity, free WiFi and brand new sanitation facilities. Even so, many Motorhomers obviously find this too expensive so use Aires at 10, maybe 15 euros maximum.
Perhaps this is the answer, more and more Motorhomes and many using wild camping off-grid. The very latest Motorhomes have no gas, run off batteries and can use diesel heating. Not so easy in this country but many find a way of parking up.

We've stayed on about 7 or 8 different CAMC sites this year and found them all full or very nearly full. We like a bit of space.

It is clear to us that CAMC members in general have absolutely no issue with the price of sites, as I am sure CAMC are aware.

We may look to find non CAMC sites in future in the hope of lower occupancy levels....

Perhaps the club [ltd] are increasing prices to increase the value of the business so that it can be atractive to small to medium size Venture capitalist companies topurchase it ,who will be able sell off land [sites etc] and devlope other holdings to keep up the companies value which they the can sell on to new owners ,just a thought as this what happened to my previous employer twice