Our team have crunched the numbers, spoken to guests and owners, and hunted out the biggest trends in outdoor holidays for 2020.

Advance bookings

We’ve seen a 30% increase in forward bookings for 2020, compared with this time last year. The increased interest in staycations, driven by environmental concerns and Brexit uncertainty, means guests are focusing on the UK. Booking is therefore becoming more competitive and it’s important to have your pricing and availability online as early as possible.

Making the most of it: We are already seeing bookings for 2021. We’ll be in touch to ask for pricing and availability, but feel free to let us know if you have the information to hand.

Special occasions & Group getaways

Over 50% of Canopy & Stars bookings in 2019 were made for a special occasion and we’ve seen a 40% increase in people searching for places that can cater for 10+ guests this year. Birthdays are the most popular occasion cited when booking, but we have also seen a 107% increase in traffic to the Canopy & Stars Hen Parties collection, with brides looking to do something less traditional to celebrate with their friends.

Making the most of it: Think about adding party extras or creating packages that guests can choose to encourage celebrations and events.

National parks

The UK’s national parks are in for a great year; searches for old favourites like the Lake District rose by 50% in 2019, but we’ve also seen an increase in searches for the New Forest (+99%), Snowdonia (+92%) and the Brecon Beacons (+75%).

Making the most of it: You don’t need to do anything for this one, we’ll be highlighting the national parks with marketing content pieces this year.

Green credentials

The latest statistics from YouGov and our own guest surveys and data show that concern for the environment is at the highest levels on record. People are increasingly looking for holidays that minimise their impact on the environment. By its very nature, glamping is already ahead of the game when it comes to sustainability, but anything you can do to increase green credentials would be great.

Making the most of it: Perhaps you can make it easier for people to visit you by public transport (and if guests can let us know!), take a look at your sourcing, change how you generate power or even offer to teach guests how to incorporate sustainability into their daily lives.

Solid structures

We have launched a collection of bothies on Canopy & Stars, after seeing an increased interest in stone structures from our guests. These spaces have proven to be some of our most booked places in 2019 and we predict that this will only grow into next year.

Making the most of it: We’re not about to take on giant country houses, but we would be happy to look at slightly more traditional structures that still provide guests with a life more wild through their feel and location.

The element of surprise

Holidaying in the UK used to be seen as a fallback option when exotic destinations were out of reach. But guests holidaying close to home are still looking for the excitement, surprise and discovery that they used to expect from travel abroad.

Making the most of it: Let your imagination run wild on a new feature or maybe a crazy new space. Think about great events or experiences that guests could take part in in your area and let us know about them.

All information contained in this article is specific to our data from 2019.