NEC Caravan, Camping & Motorhome Show February 2020

NEC Caravan, Camping & Motorhome Show February 2020

The doors once again opened for the NEC Caravan, Camping & Motorhome Show and the atmosphere was buzzing! The show was opened by Shane Ritchie and Matt Allwright, and by Friday the show hit a new record attracting 14,702 attendees, the busiest Friday ever! The show really is a family friendly show with activities that the whole family can enjoy whether it be the climbing wall, trying out new electric scooters, skateboards and bikes or having a go on the adventure golf – there really is something for everyone! The Caravan, Camping & Motorhome Show truly is a must attend show for anyone considering making a purchase of a new leisure unit. One of the two largest shows in the UK. Almost all manufacturers and most of their supporting dealers attend the show and offer fantastic deals and offers.

Caravan, Camping & Motorhome Show

Day 1 Highlights

  • Official Show Opening with Shane Richie and Matt Allwright
  • Interview and Q&A with Shane Richie
  • New to Motorhomes with Dave Hurrell
  • Live cooking with Jill Weatherburn
  • New to Caravans with Graham Powell
  • Campervan Adventures with Martin Dorey
  • Motorhome Manoeuvring Advice with Keith and Caroline
  • Live Cooking with Jill Weatherburn

Day 2 Highlights

  • New to Motorhomes with Peter Vaughan
  • New to Caravans with Clare Kelly
  • Adventures on Wheels with Debbie North
  • Live cooking with Monica Rivron
  • Three dogs, a man and a Campervan with Kerry, Max, Paddy and Harry
  • Interview and Q&A with Mr Frostbite, Nigel Vardy

Day 3 Highlights

  • New to motorhomes with Dave Hurrell
  • New to Caravans with Graham Powell
  • Get kids camping with Simon McGrath and Andrew Dickens
  • Lessons learnt from a Life on the Trail with Richard Harpham

Day 4 Highlights

  • Mental health benefits of Holidaying with Dr Hilary Jones with Willerby
  • Towing Advice with The Camping & Caravanning Club towing expert, Fliss Spink
  • Travelling Europe with Wandering Bird

Day 5 Highlights

  • My small space life with Max McMurdo
  • Potty Adventures with David Mellor

Day 6 Highlights

  • Battling the Yukon with Darren Hardy
  • Caravan Selection, Collection and Beyond with Here we Tow

Electric in Motion

There were fantastic opportunities to try before you buy with Electric in Motion trialing a range of electric ride-ons from electric bikes, scooters and skateboards.

Bushcraft Workshops

There were opportunities to discover top tips, essential wilderness skills and techniques that would help you survive in the great outdoors as well as survival tips.

Top Dog Arena

There were fantastic displays from the Top Dog Arena where show dogs were put through the paces with various performances daily. We will be releasing a lot more content from the show in the coming weeks, be sure to join our community on Facebook to keep up-to-date.

What stakeholders had to say.

Nick Page, Commercial Director, Swift Group said: We’ve had a fantastic show with strong footfall resulting in retail sales growth across many Swift ranges. A leading highlight was the launch of the Basecamp 4 Special Edition, a major success that helped create interest across the whole stand.”

Simon Howard, Marketing Director of Bailey of Bristol said: “Naturally we would like to thank everyone who came to see us at the Caravan, Camping & Motorhome Show at the NEC, Birmingham. The show kicked off with the launch of the all-new Alicanto Grande Faro layout, the announcement of our new motorhome ambassadors – Andy Tobert and Bex Biggins and news of our latest epic adventure, where we will be taking on the ‘Sahara Challenge’ as we head to the desert this spring. “Products across the spectrum from top-of-the-range Autograph motorhomes to the daringly different Discovery caravan range, all out-performed our expectations and overall the show was a great success with our current portfolio paying dividends in terms of overall results.”

Elliot Hibbs, MD Coachman Caravans added: “We are delighted with results of the show, with an increase of 25% in retail sales and the second-best February NEC in recent years.  All models retailed well but the stand out range was the new ‘Acadia’ with just over 50% of our sales.  Well done to the NCC Events for another successful show.”

Kirsten Bolton, Marketing Director, Willerby, said added: “This has been a very exciting show for us as we have launched three new homes, including our Mapleton lodge; this is a fantastic addition to our offering and visitors at the show were able to take a look first-hand at the unique and spacious design on offer.”

Steve Sharp, Group MD Lowdhams Caravans siad: “We finished 15% up on motorhome sales in comparison to last year, so we are very happy about that and we also managed to sell a few Airstreams throughout the show, so we’re delighted with that too. “I would say overall we’ve had lots of positive interest, with a lot of new people looking to enter the market for the first time… so lots of positives to take from this year.”

Adrian Cross, Director, Hillside Leisure said: “After a mild start, this show ended as our best February show to date and we ended 7% up on our previous best for the Feb show.”

Simon McGrath of The Camping and Caravanning Club noted: “NEC shows are always a great opportunity for us to chat to existing members, together with those who sign up to membership of the Club on our stand. Over the course of six days we gave a warm, Friendly Club welcome to several thousand members.”

Harvey Alexander, Caravan and Motorhome Club Director of Marketing said, “The Caravan Camping and Motorhome Show has certainly got the touring year off to a great start.  The Caravan and Motorhome Club stand was hugely popular throughout the whole show, it was great to see so many happy Club members planning their next adventure in new leisure vehicles purchased at the show.  “Club Day was very successful for us with numerous media interviews.  Show visitors loved seeing Matt Allwright and Karen Wright on our stand, and our manoeuvring sessions were fully booked every day.”

Cathy Chamberlain MD Barefoot Caravans added: “It was great to catch up with so many Barefoot customers and of course make new ones at the Show.  Our unique design of caravans seems to have created a new market for caravan buyers and it is wonderful for us to hear how far and wide our customers are travelling, both around the UK and throughout Europe.  As always, the show had some great activities and talks for all ages and somehow brought the outside into the NEC, with a bit of extra sunshine!  Roll on the Summer, and great adventures for all. “Thousands of people visited the show across the six days, and we were thrilled to welcome visitors to our stand to explore the models first-hand. We’re looking forward to helping make holidays more relaxing for families across the UK.”

Alexander Wehrmann, Director of Marketing and PR at Carthargo said: “After exhibiting at the NEC in February for 8 years in a row, this was our most successful trade fair to date. We have achieved growth for both brands and our new models have received a lot of attention. This result shows that the Carthago-Malibu Group remains strong in times of economic uncertainty.”

Brian M

http://www.undertheawnings.com

I try and post regularly on all aspects of motorhomes, caravans, camping and mobile leisure as a whole. I'm also a marketing consultant.