The caravan industry encompasses caravan manufacturing and services, caravan sales, and caravan parks.  The caravan industry is almost entirely commercial, with virtually no public or voluntary provision.  There is a predominance of small traders in the industry.  41% of caravan parks are run as partnerships, 39% as private limited companies, 15% are sole traders and 3% are membership organisations.  The industry falls within the following Standard Industrial Classifications (SICs):

• 3420 Manufacture of bodies of motor vehicles
• 5010 Sale of motor vehicles
• 5521 Youth hostels and mountain refuges
• 5522 Camping sites including Caravans sites
• 5523 Other provision of lodgings n.e.c.

There are a total of 4,089 parks in the UK, which is expected to increase as demand for park homes increases in the future.  There are conflicting estimates on the number of people working in the industry, ranging from 25,500 to 90,000.  This is partly as seasonal employment increases numbers by an estimated 7% in the summer.  However, using data sourced from national statistics the number employed in the industry is 31,880, which is 5.5% of the Active Leisure and Learning sector and 0.1% of the whole economy.  It is estimated that 16% are self-employed as many independent parks are family owned and run. There has been little growth in the numbers employed in the industry and numbers are forecast to decline over the next ten years, but replacement demand will average 4,730 annually between 2005-2009.

59% of the workforce is male.   There is a concentration of people working in the industry in the middle age groups and a significant decline at retirement age.

The caravan industry gross value added (GVA) was £1 billion in 2004, which is 0.1% of the whole UK output and 12% of SkillsActive’s output.   

The industry is concentrated in the South West, East of England, South East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, and Wales.  The South West of England accounts for 16% of total employment in the industry.

The largest occupational group, representing 33% of the workforce, is managers and senior officials.  Over-representation of this occupational group, compared to the whole economy, is, however, typical of the Active Leisure and Learning sector.  Administration and secretarial occupations are underrepresented in the industry, but is similar to the figures for the whole economy.

40% of employers have vacancies and 57% of employers with vacancies reported that they are hard-to-fill.  Recruiting enough cleaners and housekeepers is a major challenge for the industry.  Hard-to-fill vacancies also exist for bar managers and staff, receptionists, wardens or assistant wardens, cooks and chefs. 

Recruitment difficulties are the result of a lack of applicants, few interested in the work and not enough applicants with the required attitude, motivation or personality. Skills shortages are reported by 39% of employers for customer service skills, maintaining safety and communication skills.

Future skills required in the industry include general IT and management skills.  Technical and practical, plus IT professional skills will be required to higher levels in the future.  54% of employers believe that the levels of skills required were increasing and being driven by new legislation and regulations, customer expectations and IT.

Key drivers in the industry:

• consumer demands including customer expectations, the weather, media image of caravanning and the economy
• IT developments and fluency enabling people to book online
• government and local authorities driving licensing, planning and tourism
• sales of UK caravans which have steadily increased over the last few years

Source: Skills Needs Assessment – England 2005 and Skills Needs Assessment – Caravan Industry 2005

Keywords
Gross value added (GVA) is the difference between the value of goods and services produced and the cost of raw materials and other inputs which are used up in production.

For employment levels by region and nation see:

Regional distribution of employment in the caravan industry, 2004