The guide details the wide range of quality camping accommodation on offer in the Lake District and the rest of Cumbria and features more than 60 businesses across the county.

These cover everything from tent pitches near England's highest mountain and caravan parks near England's deepest lake, to alternative 'glamping' options such as stylish yurts and cosy camping pods.

Twenty thousand copies of the guide have been produced and 10,000 electronic versions have been emailed to camping enthusiasts throughout the country.

The guide is also available to download from www.golakes.co.uk making it easy for campers to arrange their Cumbrian accommodation in readiness for National Camping and Caravanning Week.

The annual event, now in its ninth year, is run by the Camping and Caravanning Club which boasts seven sites throughout Cumbria.

The festivities coincide with the spring bank holiday and will adopt an activities-led theme this year, providing the opportunity for campers to try a range of outdoor pursuits.Activities such as Ramblers Association walks and Sustrans cycling will be available from Camping and Caravanning Club Sites, plus there will be competitions and games to enjoy with lots of prizes up for grabs.

The camping and caravanning industries are flourishing in the current economic climate as people seek a cost-effective and nostalgic escape.

Advance bookings for Camping and Caravanning Club Sites are up 27 per cent on last year and this Easter saw their occupancy rate up by an incredible 50 per cent.

One Cumbrian site that is already experiencing increased bookings is Park Cliffe Camping and Caravanning Estate.

This picturesque independent park occupies 25 acres of tranquil countryside near Bowness-on-Windermere and boasts numerous accolades including AA Regional Campsite of the Year for the North West of England 2009, Practical Caravan Magazine Top 100 Parks Award and the David Bellamy Gold Conservation award.

Park Cliffe is also a finalist in the Enjoy England Awards for Excellence 2009 and will find out this week whether they have beaten off national competition to win the title of Caravan Holiday Park of the Year.

Susan Dickson, owner of Park Cliffe, said: "We are enjoying a good year and our advanced bookings are actually up on the same period last year, so we are looking forward to National Camping and Caravanning Week.

"It provides the perfect opportunity for both camping novices and enthusiasts to enjoy our award-winning facilities and will help to spread the word about how affordable and enjoyable camping is."

Keith Jackson, chairman of The Camping and Caravanning Club, added: "NCCW is a celebration of camping, caravanning and outdoor activities so we'd like to see as many people as possible enjoying themselves.

"Whether it's on our award-winning Club, Certificated and independent sites or at locally organised events or even in back gardens, there is certainly something for everyone during the week.

"Our members were out in their thousands last year and we want to see even more enjoying themselves under canvas this time around."

Source: lakelandecho.co.uk

The museum’s board has filed a request with Cabonne Council asking that volunteers from outside of the region be given free access to a powered site at Canowindra Caravan Park for the duration of their stay.

Board member Monica Yeung said the museum had also been in touch with private accommodation vendors who might be willing to offer discounted rates for interstate volunteers.

Ms Yeung said it was hoped the initiative would provide a boost for the museum, which often struggles to source volunteers with experience in science and geology.

“We are always looking for volunteers with an interest in geology,” she said.

“This would be a nice gesture to attract and thank volunteers willing to travel from interstate to help a museum like ours and Cabonne Council.

“This is also an innovative idea that has the potential to start a trend for other organisations in the area.”

Museum volunteer Don Spalding, from Parramatta, said he would take up the offer of a free caravan park site and saw it as an added incentive for working at the museum.

“It’s an added selling point,” Mr Spalding said.

“I love the country and the museum and this would be another reason to come out here.”

Cabonne Council has indicated its support for the motion on the basis that it will benefit the museum as well as having flow through advantages for other Canowindra businesses.

Volunteers, however, would need to commit to a minimum number of working hours to have access to the caravan park for free.

The Age of Fishes Museum currently relies on volunteers to operate and will need to attract 10,000 visitors annually before it can employ casual staff. Current visitation is 8500 people annually.

Source: canowindra.yourguide.com.au

Park owners are experiencing a boost in the number of bookings they are taking for the summer season.

Many are attributing the rise to an increasing number of people opting to holiday at home to save money.

Caravan parks also reported full houses over the Easter holiday, with visitors coming from across the country for a long break.

Dennis Smith, who owns Hillhead Caravan Park at Kintore, Aberdeenshire, said an increasing number of families were buying caravans and storing them on his site.

The 120-vehicle storage area is at capacity and has a waiting list of up to a month, which is a 30% rise in figures from last year.

“There has been an influx of caravans being stored here this year,” he said.

“That has been doing exceptionally well this year.

“I would say people have decided that caravan holidays are cheaper and less stressful than going abroad.

“Many of them want to try the freedom of caravaning.”

The largest vehicles available are being quickly snapped up by enthusiasts who reject the tradition of buying a small secondhand caravan and regularly upgrading it, he added.

The warden at Aboyne Loch Caravan Park on Deeside, Trisha Anderson, said a lot of young couples and groups of young people were choosing to camp.

She also reported more people choosing to book their caravans in for the whole season.

The season started early for Burnside Caravan Park at Fochabers because of the high numbers of visitors looking for somewhere to park their tourers.

A spokesman said bookings for the summer months were coming in “thick and fast”.

“It is just the cost of going abroad,” he said. “People are getting a bit fed up and are preparing to stay at home.”

He predicted that the number of foreign visitors would also rise this year.

“It is more favourable to them now with their exchange rate,” he said. “For the last couple of years it was not cost effective for them but now it’s equalised.”

The story is not positive for everyone. John Campbell, who sells static caravans at Thurso, said sales had dropped dramatically since the recession set in.

“We don’t have a lot of sites up here for putting static caravans in,” he said.

“We sell to people building houses who put the caravans on the site.

“We have hardly sold anything since December.

“The year before there were quite a few going, but people don’t have the money now. There are some people building but not the same extent as was happening before.”

Source: pressandjournal.co.uk

To "preserve the importance of this great Aussie holiday tradition," the privately-run Tripcony Hibiscus Caravan Park at Caloundra and the council-run Cotton Tree and Noosa River parks will be added to the register, the Queensland Heritage council revealed yesterday.

Since as early as 1880, people have come to Cotton Tree, north of Brisbane, to camp, swim and fish, with Noose and Caloundra also popular since the early 20th century.

Queensland Heritage Council chair David Eades made the announcement in Caloundra yesterday, saying the listing would not affect the day-to day running of the campgrounds and would preserve them from the rapid shore development on the Sunshine Coast.

"Seaside holidays are in our blood," Mr Eades said,

"They are quintessential Queensland experiences and some 650,000 Queenslanders stay in caravan parks around the state every year.

"The advertising of 1910 got it right when it described a two-week camp at Cotton Tree as `Nature's pick-me-up'.

"These three caravan parks not only demonstrate the evolution of tourist accommodation but remain true examples of waterfront caravan parks that blend nature with accessible, affordable amenities."

Unlike the owners of the Big Pineapple, who vowed to bring legal action against the Environmental Protection Agency over its listing, (http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/articles/2009/03/24/1237656893995.html), the owner of the Tripcony Hibiscus Caravan Park was pleased with the move to heritage list his property.

"This, on top of confirmation of a 30-year lease, gives us confidence in the future," Tripcony Hibiscus owner Thomas Booker said,

"We can move ahead with our planned redevelopment, bringing facilities up to the 21st century."

Source: brisbanetimes.com.au

As the Easter holidays come to an end, Pembrokeshire Tourism, which represents 500 holiday businesses said it had seen a "huge upsurge" in late bookings.

North Wales Tourism said better than forecast weather over the bank holidays helped boost trade.

The Caravan Club also said it has seen a 40% increase in bookings this year.

A key feature that also seems to have emerged in the rise in the use of the internet to grab late bookings.

Barry Chapman, manager of the Hotel Plas Hyfryd at Narbeth in Pembrokeshire said: "Although traditionally its never a really busy time of year for us, this year broke the mould.

"With leisure guests up by over 50% and a number of guest booking for the whole three night period, we are delighted with the results of our new on line marketing campaign."

Nick Evans, chairman of Pembrokeshire Tourism added: "It's encouraging to see more market confidence from a high percentage of our members across the tourism spectrum."

Sunshine

Mr Evans counterpart at North Wales Tourism, Chris Jackson, was a little more cautious, but agreed that there had been a positive start to the tourism season.

"Operators are reasonably happy. It's the start of the season in north Wales and we have benefitted from good weather - much better than the weather forecasted," said Mr Jackson.

"There has been some last minute bookings and the visitor attractions have done rather well."

But Mr Jackson said his members were "not throwing their hats in the air" just yet.

He said many were hoping that the recession would see more people looking to holiday closer to home, and that the industry was "looking ahead cautiously".

One part of the tourism sector that definitely appears to have benefitted is the caravan park operator.

'Value'

According to The Caravan Club, which owns and operates 200 sites across Britain, it has seen bookings for 2009 already up by 40%.

It said its network of parks in Wales were at 90% occupancy for the Easter holidays.

"I think people in the current climate are looking where they get real value and are making the most of their own time," said the club's spokeswoman Fiona Bewers.

"New families are taking up caravanning as a fun option, it gives them flexibility to go when and where they want."

Source: BBC

Park owners say they are fully booked over the Easter school holidays and have seen a boom in trade since the credit crunch began as people favour cheaper breaks.

At East Midlands Airport, 9,000 fewer passengers flew off on holiday, compared with the same time last year.

Lesley Kind, who runs Whetstone Gorse Fisheries and Caravan Site, in Whetstone, with husband, Martin, says they have been booked up for the Easter holidays for more than seven weeks.

The site has room for 26 vans, a converted barn with a bar and stage and a licence to hold up to 400 caravans at special events.

She said: "We're in a very good location and a lot of people like to come here to fish.

"We're also noticing that more and more people are booking spaces with us.

"Over the past nine months, we've seen bookings go up. I think the fact the exchange rate is quite poor at the moment is making people think twice about going on holiday abroad."

Diane Swain, manager of Quorn Lodge Caravan Club, on Loughborough Road, Quorn, said they were busier than ever.

She said: "We're finding that more people want to caravan in the UK rather than driving down to France or Spain.

"Petrol prices are an issue and the fact the pound is so weak is meaning people cannot afford to go abroad so they are going to local caravan sites instead.

"We're booked up over Easter, mostly with people who are travelling here to spend time with family members living close by."

Steve Tizzard, general manager of The Caravan Company, on St Margaret's Way, Leicester, revealed that sales were up by 25 per cent on last year.

He said the average price people were paying for caravans at the moment was about £6,000.

He said: "Caravanning is becoming more and more popular.

"A lot of people are buying caravans for the first time because it's far more expensive to holiday abroad these days.

"The pound is so weak against the euro right now and people are realising they can buy a caravan which they can keep forever, for the same price as a family holiday abroad.

"This is traditionally the busiest time of year for us as well because we're approaching summer and a lot of people traditionally have their first caravanning holidays around this time of year."

Source: thisisleicestershire.co.uk