Looking back at a year in the lights
Here at Kal HQ we’re officially in our final working day until our well-earned Christmas break begins! Which means before we know it, we’ll be back in the new year, planning the 2019 show visits and immersing ourselves in another season. But for now, we’re taking a look back on a selection of this year’s shows and how they’ve gone.
Both of the NCC’s February Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show and the October Motorhome and Caravan Show at the Birmingham NEC were down on visitor numbers this year, but not at an alarming rate as they settled back, roughly in line with 2016 figures. And more than that, it appears that those people attending were more set with the intent to actually buy a leisure product rather than simply browse.
As a result, exhibitors did not suffer from this decreased footfall. In February, Kampa reported a record show, Adria achieved double overall sales of motorhomes and caravans, and in October Hillside Leisure was up 90% on actual sales from the end of the previous show to the Sunday morning this year and Premium Motorhomes also reported being up on sales.
The decrease in attendance should not be alarming to the industry, as clearly it has not had a knock-on effect to sales.
Covering a slightly different sector of the industry, the Holiday Park Innovation Show was one of few shows to experience an increase in footfall in 2018. And the show looks secure for the coming year, with 97.4% of visitors saying they are already planning to attend in 2019, meaning none of us should overlook this particular area.
Other positive reports come from Warners Group, which runs eight industry shows from March through to September. Like most, these shows experienced a slight decrease in day visitors, however they did express that trade sales have increased year on year and there were some really positive sales this season.
Cementing its future, Warners has announced plans to trial electric hook ups at one show in 2019 and to also trial a glamping area to entice a new audience.
On the flip side, the UK Motorhome and Caravan Shows, which consists of a Summer, Autumn and Spring show, run by Mortons Media Group Ltd, has reached the end of its road in 2018. Mortons Media Group acquired the Motorhome and Caravan Shows in 2015 from Event Developments Ltd which had ran the trio of events for nearly a decade.
In a statement from Mortons Media Group it announced, “After a tough trading environment for the last couple of years, we have decided to no longer continue with the UK Motorhome and Caravan Shows – thank you to everyone who has supported us, traders and visitors alike.”
However, we don’t think this should be a warning siren. This is one set of shows and many others have proven successful year on year. Exhibitor comments and statistics both support our industry remaining buoyant.
Moving forward, it’s important not to overpopulate the industry, whether that’s down to our manufacturers or importers, and companies must remain mindful that the high sales we experienced in 2017 were due to an anomaly year. But for now, that show must go on!
