Following the week in which several airlines announced that fuel surcharges were to rise again on holiday flights, the National Caravan Council (NCC) is urging holidaymakers to stay in the UK to achieve best value from high fuel costs and, at the same time, reduce harmful emissions.
According to the NCC, most families could travel with a medium-sized car and caravan to one of more than 1,000 UK caravan parks for less than the cost of the fuel surcharge if they were to fly, cutting carbon emissions too.
NCC Director of Communications, Louise Wood, said: “It is now costing around £75 per person in fuel surcharges for a shorter long haul flight. Multiply that by four and it is enough to buy a family more than 50 gallons of diesel or petrol. That would take the average car and caravan over 1,500 miles, giving a massive choice of caravan parks at which to stay in the UK.
“Not only that, it will probably cut emissions by half – a 1,500 mile flight produces around 314 kg of C0² per person, while a family of four travelling a similar distance with a medium-sized car towing a caravan would only produce 162 kg per person.” (Calculations are based on data available from www.greencaravanning.co.uk which has been independently verified by Transport and Travel Research Ltd.)
Other ‘green’ aspects of caravanning include:
- Over 90% of caravans on UK roads are actually made in Britain (unlike many manufactured items, which have clocked up ‘air’ or ‘sea miles’ before reaching the end user)
- In many holiday parks, great attention is paid to protecting the environment; e.g. use of solar power to heat communal shower blocks, wildlife areas, recycling points etc.
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