A new survey conducted by outdoor accommodation site Pitchup.com has reported that just 17% of holiday and campsites listed on its site offer a public wireless internet (wifi) connection and only 8% support free internet access.
Naturally many such sites are in rural areas that also lack good fixed line broadband connectivity and the obvious correlation between that and the lack of wifi is difficult to ignore. Little wonder that Pitchup.com has also witnessed a 91% increase in complaints about sites with limited net access.
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Dan Yates, Managing Director of Pitchup, said:
“Getting away from it all no longer means being totally cut off as many of our customers still expect to be able to surf the net while camping, and not only to update their social networks. Wifi allows outdoor holidaymakers to keep a close eye on weather forecasts, check online map services and even plan their next pitch while on the road. Remote areas can suffer a lack of Wifi availability and this can deter holidaymakers.
Some of our customers need to work at some point during their holiday and limited internet access can be a make or break decision when they choose holiday accommodation. Wifi encourages last minute bookings, enables flexible workers to combine work and leisure, and is especially helpful during the shoulder season for driving bookings.
In addition, even for those who are lucky enough not to have to work while on holiday, parents often rely on the internet as an essential tool for keeping their children entertained. Lack of internet access can deter families.”
Yates said that the solution would be for the government to allocate a “larger share” of its troubled National Infrastructure Plan (NIP) to broadband development, especially in rural areas. But so far there’s been no sign of that happening.
The comments come shortly after the government appeared to cut back its investment in broadband by £50m and warned that their initial target to reach 90% of the UK with superfast connectivity by the end of 2015 could slip (here). On the other hand 3G and 4G mobile coverage looks to be progressing in the right direction.
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