Caravan Tax - The Fight Continues

At the start of the debate I asked the following questions and got the following answers:

How many static caravans are located in and around Bridlington?

The following table shows the total number of static caravans located within the parishes of Bempton, Flamborough, Bridlington and Carnaby.

Location	Total number of static caravans
Bempton	288
Flamborough	1544
Bridlington	2231
Carnaby	393

Data source East Riding Data Observatory

What income do they generate for Bridlington and the East Riding?

A staying visitor on average spends £34.56 pr night.  However this data doesn’t include those visitors that don’t spend anything within the local economy and bring everything with them.  A day visitor spends an average of £22.94 this figure includes fuel.

72% of the visitors to the East Riding are from within the Yorkshire and Humber sub-region.   33% of visitor to the East Riding stay in overnight accommodation and 47% are either staying in self catering accommodation or camping/caravanning.  

Given the number of visitors to Bridlington these figures are important to the local economy of the town.

Date Source Welcome to Yorkshire Regional Visitor Survey 2010/2011

How many jobs are linked to this industry in terms of holiday parks?

There are 77 jobs linked to holiday parks in Bridlington, this number includes those that are part-time and seasonal.  The total number in the East Riding was 201. 

Do you see any implications in the 20 % VAT on static caravans in terms of lost revenue and jobs to Bridlington and surrounding areas?

This is a difficult question to answer and this may only become apparent after the VAT increase has been implemented.  The risks are as follows-

The demand for static caravans drops – many caravans are owned by individuals and may be rented back to the holiday camp or used every weekend as a holiday home.  This demand may cause the price of caravans to drop.

The demand for new statics as replacements may reduce leading to an increasingly aged stock that might be less attractive to stay in.

Replacement caravans are more expensive and this increased cost is passed on to consumers who then have less to spend either at the park or in the wider economy. 

The impact to most tourism businesses will be less as Bridlington is reliant on day trippers.  The strategy is to encourage these visitors to spend more in the local economy. 

How will this affect the tourist industry as a whole for the East Riding?

Again until the VAT increase is implemented this is hard to estimate.