With the sun starting to shine and summer approaching, entrepreneur Dan Yates is ready to go. Creator of Pitchup.com, Yates is ready for the summer rush. Holiday makers can select among 5000 camping and caravan sites in England and across the Continent. As Yates said, “The weather definitely made a difference. Camping and caravanning is often a last-minute choice, so we make it really easy for people to book online or via their smartphones.”
Yates used to work at Lastminute.com before setting up his own site in 2009. He saw a need for campers to have a way to book their vacations. Along with large operators – Bourne Leisure, Parkdean, Park Resorts and Park Holidays – he has also attracted individual campsite operators.
They expect 500,000 people to book with Pitchup this year which is more than double the number they had last year. As Yates said, “The industry was given a great boost during the recession, when people decided to holiday in the UK, and that ‘staycation’ effect has remained.”
“Now there’s a huge choice, from traditional tents and caravans to teepees, yurts, wigwams and pods, and that has helped bring in people who wouldn’t even have tried camping before.”