Published on : Wednesday, June 12, 2019
This ‘alternative accommodation’ sector has only started realizing its potential, businesses have said.
As per the Department for Infrastructure, for glamping pods, there were approx 10 applications – which can sleep a group of people – around the province this year.
David Maxwell, chief operating officer at Intupod – an NI-based producer of glamping pods – and founder of further.space, the booking company for glamping holidays, explained that Northern Ireland is initiating to catch up on England and Scotland in this respect.
“I believe glamping has really to kick off here,” he said.
He further added the appeal of further.space in offering pods in locations “off the beaten track” which are controlled by the firm and owners of the fields.
“We hand-pick our locations that allow guests to disconnect from day-to-day life,” he said.
“They are from our landowner network and are places that the public otherwise wouldn’t have access to. They have beautiful views, they are close to things that are important to life and they feature a good pod and a host with the best local knowledge.”
He mentioned that future.space is attarcting to landowners to join the glamping craze. “We supply five pods at £35,000 each. We de-risk what is a micro tourism business for the landowner,” he added.
Among its earlier applications is a site in Glenarm, which will open on July 12 to overlap with the festival of the town. It also has its sights set on glamping sites in Portaferry, Ballycastle and Downpatrick among others.
“There were 270m overnight stays in the UK and Ireland last year and 37% were in alternative accommodation and there is further suggestion it will grow 4-5% this year,” Mr. Maxwell said.
Tags: northern ireland