Surges in Canal Holidays Causes Boat Sales Boom

With the summer behind us and the winter approaching, it’s time to pause and reflect on what has been an amazing summer period for UK canal users and holiday makers, as more people have started to enjoy the beauty of the UK’s canal networks both on holidays, and from the comfort of their own house boats.

It’s been so lovely to see our waterways packed with boats again, a much needed sight after what has been a difficult year and a half for many people!

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, boat sales specifically for holiday rentals have skyrocketed as a result of a growing demand for holiday boats in the UK. According to BBC News, Carl Onens, the Managing Director as ABC Leisure Group who provides boat hire across various locations in the UK has said:

“We were seeing strong demand till March 2022, and then the pandemic accelerated it with lots of new customers coming in. New customers is what we've worked on for a long time, although we would not have chosen a global pandemic. The booking office has often been dealing four to five times with same bookings, as a result of changes in the rules. 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.”

It is generally believed that this boom has been caused by two key changes in our behaviour as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. People are now opting to holiday in the UK as a way to avoid very complicated global travel restrictions that have been in force in order to reduce the amount of people travelling. Secondly and more specifically, because of the various enforced lockdowns, more people have had the opportunity to escape to local beauty spots and to experience just how many incredible and stunning places there are close to UK canals. The two changes combined have meant that now, more people want to experience the joy of a canal boat holiday in the UK.

With canal boat holidays on the up, maybe now is the perfect time to buy one of your very own. If you’re interested in buying a boat, why not visit our online narrowboat brokerage?

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