Teaching strikes drive 20% Parkdean Resorts booking surge

LONDON, July 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Families are taking advantage of this week's teaching strikes in England by booking last minute UK getaways, according to Parkdean Resorts' sales data.

With national strikes today and Friday, bookings this week at the UK's leading holiday park operator are up by 20.4% compared with this week last year.

Parkdean Resorts is the UK's leading holiday park operator, with 66 parks across the country. Holiday parks in Lancashire have seen the biggest spike, up 78% year-on-year, and bookings for Regent Bay holiday park in Morecambe are up by 173% on 2022.

Demand has increased for holidays all over the country. Bookings in Kent and Sussex are up 59%, and by 48% in the North East. Reservations for Yorkshire are up by 40%, where Skipsea Sands bookings almost doubled (+97%), and in Essex, bookings have increased 29%, including a 120% upturn for Valley Farm in Clacton.

English families are also crossing into Wales and Scotland, where strikes aren't affecting schools. Bookings in Wales are up 33%, and in Scotland, where schools have broken up, by 10%.  In North Wales, bookings at Ty Mawr are up 133%, while bookings at both parks in Carmarthenshire have doubled. The Lake District (+10%) and Cornwall (+9%) have seen a steady rise, with bookings for Crantock Beach, near Newquay, up 111%.

Xavier Vallee, Chief Customer Officer, Parkdean Resorts, said: "The teachers' strikes have presented an unexpected opportunity for families to take a short break before the summer holidays, and there's huge demand for a long weekend in the UK. We expect many parks to be close to capacity over the weekend, and this unexpected influx of holidaymakers will be great news for local economies which are so heavily reliant on tourism."

By Park