Canvas Holidays

Last updated
Canvas Holidays logo Canvas Holidays logo.svg
Canvas Holidays logo

Canvas Holidays is a company which offers camping holidays across Europe.

Contents

Founded 50 years ago by the Cuthbert family, it was the pioneer in the sited tent market. Canvas Holidays - which has its headquarters in Dunfermline, Scotland - has campsites in a variety of countries in Europe, including France, Italy, Croatia and Spain. [1] [2] [3] There are some very strange campsite managers and even weirder couriers. They all seem to smell peculiar.

Background

In 1964, Jim Cuthbert and his wife Margaret Cuthbert decided to set up a camping holiday company. The idea came to them after being on a family holiday themselves, where they had witnessed many families cramming their cars full of camping equipment. It was then that Jim Cuthbert thought it would be more convenient to provide campsites which already had the equipment ready for use, and so Canvas was born. [4] [5]

In 1967, four more campsites were added and Jim Cuthbert was awarded a Daily Telegraph travel award for most innovative holiday idea. Further improvements to the Canvas campsites followed, with a site being added in Italy in 1968 and electric lights being introduced in 1969. By the 1970s, route maps had been added to travel packs, fully sprung beds replaced air mattresses and crockery was introduced. In the 1970s, another British camping holiday company – Eurocamp – was established, providing competition for Canvas.

The following decade was a time of further improvements to Canvas' campsites, with the first Spanish campsite being added in 1981. Throughout the remainder of the 1980s, the first mobile homes were introduced, as was the Hoopi's Club programme for children. The founder of the company, Jim Cuthbert, was also awarded the Soleil d'Or from the French Government in 1985 for his contribution to the travel industry.

Over the recent decades, Canvas Holidays continued to progress with the times, introducing a new computerized bookings system in 1994, as well as establishing a new range of tents – the ‘Mark IV Tent' and the ‘Balmoral'. Updated mobile homes – equipped with dishwashers and CD players – were introduced as part of the ‘Millennium' range in 2003, and air conditioning was added to mobile homes in Italy and the South of France in 2004. Canvas also improved the family friendly aspect of their company, introducing free travel for under 18s in 1996, a Toddler Club for under 4s in 2000 and the ‘FamilyExtra' programme in 2009.

Management

At the beginning of the 1990s, Canvas Holidays suffered financial difficulties. Due to poor control of costs, revenues fell and thus, the company was sold. Having been under the management of the Cuthbert family for 27 years, in 1992 Canvas Holidays was bought by Andrew Salvesen and George Elles. This partnership bought 75% of the business for £2.5 million, and the headquarters moved to Dunfermline, where they are still based today. Two years later, Salvesen bought the remaining shares from the Cuthbert family. This marked the beginning of a new management team in the business, of which Ian Inwood and Martin Sherring were included.

In November 2002, Canvas underwent further changes. Salvesen left Canvas and, with the support of Bank of Scotland and 3i, Inwood and Sherring bought the company from the previous principal shareholder (Salvesen). [6]

In 2005, Canvas Holidays became part of the Wyndham Worldwide Corporation.

Simon Allan, the current Managing Director of the company, joined Canvas in the early 1990s as a Children's Courier. He became MD in 2010. It has 200 employees.

Related Research Articles

Camping Outdoor recreational activity

Camping is an outdoor activity involving overnight stays away from home in a shelter, such as a tent or a recreational vehicle. Typically participants leave developed areas to spend time outdoors in more natural ones in pursuit of activities providing them enjoyment. The night spent outdoors distinguishes camping from day-tripping, picnicking, and other similarly short-term recreational activities.

Campsite Place used for overnight stay in the outdoors

A campsite or camping pitch is a place used for overnight stay in an outdoor area. In UK English, a campsite is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight using tents, camper vans or caravans; this UK English use of the word is synonymous with the US English expression campground. In American English, the term campsite generally means an area where an individual, family, group, or military unit can pitch a tent or park a camper; a campground may contain many campsites.

Yurt Portable, round tent covered with skins or felt and used by nomadic groups in Central Asia

A traditional yurt or ger (Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered with skins or felt and used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes of Central Asia. The structure consists of an angled assembly or latticework of wood or bamboo for walls, a door frame, ribs, and a wheel possibly steam-bent. The roof structure is often self-supporting, but large yurts may have interior posts supporting the crown. The top of the wall of self-supporting yurts is prevented from spreading by means of a tension band which opposes the force of the roof ribs. Modern yurts may be permanently built on a wooden platform; they may use modern materials such as steam-bent wooden framing or metal framing, canvas or tarpaulin, Plexiglas dome, wire rope, or radiant insulation.

RV park place where people with recreational vehicles can stay overnight, or longer, in allotted spaces known as "sites" or "campsites".

A recreational vehicle park or caravan park is a place where people with recreational vehicles can stay overnight, or longer, in allotted spaces known as "sites" or "campsites". They are also referred to as campgrounds, though a true campground also provides facilities for tent camping; many facilities calling themselves "RV parks" also offer tent camping or cabins with limited facilities.

T in the Park

T in the Park festival was a major Scottish music festival that was held annually from 1994 to 2016. It was named after its main sponsor, Tennents. The event was held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire until 1996. It then moved to the disused Balado airfield, Kinross-shire from 1997 to 2014. In 2015 the festival moved to Strathallan Castle, Strathallan, Perthshire. It was originally held over two days, and extended to three days from 2007. Promoted by DF Concerts, the event attracted up to 255,000 people and 70,000 campers.

<i>Carry On Camping</i> 1969 British comedy film directed by Gerald Thomas

Carry On Camping is a 1969 British comedy film, the 17th release in the series of 31 Carry On films (1958–1992). It features series regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Terry Scott, Hattie Jacques, Barbara Windsor, Bernard Bresslaw and Peter Butterworth.

Cox & Kings

Cox & Kings Ltd., set up in 1758, is one of the longest established travel companies. Headquartered in India and the UK, the holiday and education travel group has subsidiaries in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

Volkswagen Westfalia Camper type of recreational vehicle

Volkswagen Westfalia Camper was a conversion of Volkswagen Type 2 and then Volkswagen Type 2 (T3) sold from the early 1950s to 2003. Volkswagen subcontracted the modifications to the company Westfalia-Werke in Rheda-Wiedenbrück.

Spiegeltent large travelling tent, constructed from wood and canvas and decorated with mirrors and stained glass

A spiegeltent is a large travelling tent, constructed from wood and canvas and decorated with mirrors and stained glass, intended as an entertainment venue. Originally built in Belgium during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, only a handful of these spiegeltents remain in existence today, and these survivors continue to travel around Europe and beyond, often as a feature attraction at various international arts festivals. Two tents used by Teatro ZinZanni have been in fixed locations in Seattle and San Francisco for several years. The Melba Spiegeltent spent the better part of a century touring Europe, but is now permanently located in Melbourne, Australia. The Famous Spiegeltent, built in 1920, was first used in the Adelaide Fringe in 2000 and is now owned by an Australian jazz piano player David Bates.

Seasonworkers are those from the United Kingdom who spend either their summers or their winters working abroad for Tour Operators. The jobs usually have low pay, but accommodation is generally included, as are ski passes for winter seasons. Seasonworkers usually benefit from much free time, discounts in the resort and the chance to learn a new culture.

Mark Hammerton Group Ltd was a UK-based travel organiser and travel publisher specialising in camping, caravanning, motorhome and mobile home holidays on campsites in France, Spain, Italy and other European countries. The Group published the market-leading Alan Rogers campsites guides and offered a European travel service for readers including ferry bookings. The Group was acquired by The Caravan Club in 2012 under the brand Alan Rogers Travel Group, along with its subsidiary company Belle France, which offers walking and cycling hotel holidays.

Blacks Outdoor Retail Ltd. is a British retailer, headquartered in Bury, Greater Manchester, England which owns the British outdoor retailers Blacks, Millets and Ultimate Outdoors. Blacks is the largest outdoor retailer in the UK with stores nationwide.

PGL Travel Ltd is a company established in 1957 and is a provider of school activity courses and summer camps for children in the United Kingdom. Along with NST, European Study Tours and StudyLink it is a part of the HB Education group, owned by Midlothian Capital Partners

A Truck tent is a tent designed to be set up in the bed of a pickup truck. It was invented in 1990 by Roman Napieraj, founder of Napier Enterprises.

Eurocamp is a British holiday company based in Cheshire that provides pre-sited outdoor holidays in Europe to over 500,000 holidaymakers each year. The company works with third party partner campsites and holiday villages to offer beach, city and countryside holidays to over 180 parcs across Europe, including France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg and Croatia.

Alan Rogers Travel Group was formed in 2012 following the purchase of various brands from the former Mark Hammerton Group Ltd by The Caravan Club.

Cosmos is a UK independent tour operator providing a range of package holidays to the UK market. The tour operator is connected to the international Globus Travel Group, founded in 1928, which remains family owned with headquarters in Lugano, Switzerland. Under parent company Cosmos Tours Ltd, the tour operator offers holidays through two brands: Cosmos and Avalon Waterways.

Siblu owns and operates 17 large family holiday parks in France located across Normandy, the Brittany coastline, the west of France, the Loire Valley and the Mediterranean coast. The parks have both French and English speaking staff and the facilities are aimed at families and mix of accommodation such as mobile homes, chalets and lodges.

<i>Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp</i> 2017 mobile game by Nintendo in the Animal Crossing series

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is a free-to-play social simulation mobile game in Nintendo's Animal Crossing series for iOS and Android devices. It was released in Australia in October 2017, and worldwide the following month. The game continues the series of social simulations that allow players to interact with a small campsite with various campers, performing small tasks, engaging in commerce, and decorating living spaces.

Black's Camp or Wynnum Camp was the name for a large, permanent Aboriginal campsite established on the shores of Quandamooka in what is now Wynnum, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Black's Camp constituted a settled Aboriginal village, similar to those noted elsewhere in Queensland by archaeologist Harry Lourandos. It was one of several permanent campsites recorded in the Wynnum district in the mid to late 1800s.

References

  1. ↑ "Canvas Holidays - Company Profile Page". seasonworkers.com. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  2. ↑ "CANVAS HOLIDAYS LIMITED". worksmart.org.uk. Archived from the original on 19 February 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  3. ↑ "Canvas Holidays". careerintravel.co.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  4. ↑ Pocock, Kate. "Europe: Family Camping across Europe is Easy with Canvas Holidays". thetravelfiles.com. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  5. ↑ "Jim Cuthbert". thetimes.co.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  6. ↑ "Canvas Holidays Limited - Company Profile". insideview.com. Archived from the original on 2014-01-31. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.