Boating holidays on the rise across the UK
Boat hire firms say that bookings across the country’s 4,700 miles of canals and rivers have increased due to Covid-19.
ABC Leisure Group hires out narrow boats from 15 inland marinas. Its managing director Carl Onens says that sales this year (and last) are 40% higher than in 2019 – despite losing the 15-20% of annual bookings it used to get from international customers, according to the BBC.
“We were seeing strong demand till March 2020, and then the pandemic accelerated it with lots of new customers coming in,” he says.
“New customers is what we’ve worked on for a long time, although we would not have chosen a global pandemic [to achieve it].”
Onen says it has been challenging.
“The booking office has often been dealing four to five times with same bookings, as a result of changes in the rules,” he told the BBC.
“It’s been interesting. We have refunded about £1.6m in total – it was the fairest thing for our customers. But as it happened we’ve resold holidays as fast as we’ve refunded them.”
Cheryl Howes, owner of 28-strong narrow boat hire company Kate Boats, says the 21-year-old business hasn’t “seen bookings like this for 10 years”.
“Although we have bits and pieces available, we’re full for this summer,” she told the BBC. “Some people want to travel abroad but don’t want to risk it, and others are looking for something different and unusual.
“You’ve got everything you need. The boat is your holiday. You don’t have to think, don’t have to make decisions, you just enjoy it. People think kids will get bored, but they enjoy having you to themselves.”
The boat hire companies are not worried about sales drying up once restrictions on overseas travels are loosened.
“We’re seeing record bookings for next year,” says Onens. “Normally people would be focused on this year, but we have sold 530 weeks for next year already, compared to about 50 weeks usually [by this stage].
“A few are deferred tips from March but most are new bookings. We’ll also see the return of overseas visitors, and a boating trip makes an ideal second holiday for people even if they do go abroad.”
