Domestic tourists turn to caravan camping
Taylan Özgür Dil- ISTANBUL
With the cost of hotel accommodations going sky-high, more and more people are turning to hiring caravans, but a family of four has to spend at least 1,000 Turkish Liras per night in a caravan camping site in the new season.
The demand for caravans, which have become quite popular in recent years as a cheaper way of holidaying, continues to soar. Local tourists, who cannot buy a summer house due to high prices and do not want to allocate large budgets to hotels, are the primary cause of the increasing demand, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before the summer season, the demand for caravans doubled compared to last year. However, since most of the equipment used in caravans come from European countries, caravan production and sales costs have increased to the same extent depending on the exchange rate.
In 2022, a mid-level towing caravan in accordance with the quality standards could be purchased for 100,000-150,000 Turkish liras, while this year, prices have risen to around 300,000, and motorhomes can even go up to a whopping 1 million liras.
Despite the increasing cost of owning a caravan, holidaying in caravans has a price advantage compared to hotel and cruise holidays.
Sabahattin Ergin, honorary president of the Camping and Caravan Association of Türkiye, told local media that this season, the average cost of caravan camping sites is 300 liras per person per night, and for a family of four, the nightly average is 1,000 liras.
In addition, caravan manufacturers warn citizens to prefer companies that produce caravans in accordance with quality standards.
Erkan Erol, the owner of Akdeniz Caravan, stated that currently, a towed caravan can be found for around 150,000 liras but that these are “caravans from the hands of manufacturers who do not comply with the standards.”
“Our advice to citizens is not to buy a caravan without proper research.”
