Pitchup.com and TomTom make it easier for holidaymakers to locate – and find their way to - the UK’s top holiday spots

Pitchup.com has joined forces with TomTom to make it even easier for domestic tourists to navigate to campsites and holiday parks.  To help make the half-term drive more bearable they are revealing the best and worst times to travel on four of the UK’s most well-travelled holiday routes, using TomTom’s traffic information:

• Families travelling from Liverpool to Truro should avoid the worst travel time of 1pm Friday, buy some time and depart after 7.00pm instead.  Or head off on Sunday morning before 1pm when there is also less traffic.
• Those heading from London to Truro should also leave on Friday after 7.00pm or Sunday at 10am, avoiding the peak hour of 2.00pm Friday.
• If heading to London from Brecon Beacons the worst time to leave is Friday at 3pm – a much smoother journey will result by leaving on Friday after 7.00pm or Saturday or Sunday morning before 10am.
• And if driving from Liverpool to Brecon Beacons travellers should avoid Friday rush hour at 2.00pm and again, leave it until 7.00pm that evening to avoid congestion. 

The partnership between Pitchup.com and TomTom gives holidaymakers the ability to download directions to their TomTom satellite navigation devices by clicking the "Add to TomTom" button on the Pitchup.com website. Dan Yates, Managing Director, Pitchup.com says the tool has been introduced in response to both the rise in domestic tourism and the fact travellers want to be well informed when travelling.

 “UK caravanning and camping is up 20 per cent* this year, so we know people are travelling within the UK, and we know they are using the internet more to plan their journey. Pitchup.com is the most comprehensive search facility for this market and visitors to the site can also post feedback, so our users are both web clever and travel savvy.

“We aim to introduce more features like this to benefit our customers, many of whom will visit more than one campsite or holiday park during their time away.”

“More people are taking to the roads to holiday in the UK and a TomTom satellite navigation device is the ideal tool to relieve the stress that can come with driving, especially for families who are camping and caravanning in increasing numbers” says Damian Woodward, Vice President Sales & Marketing, TomTom. 

“They can then make the most of their time away using TomTom’s traffic technology, which will help them to minimise time spent in traffic and maximise time spent on holiday.”  

Established by TomTom to allow users to easily generate and download addresses and  points of interest, the ‘Add to TomTom’ button uploads a campsite or Holiday Park’s exact location to their TomTom satellite navigation device.  The facility is also available on Pitchup.com’s “places to go section” allowing users to easily locate National Parks, beaches and places of interest.

ends

* (bednights, Jan - June, source: UKTS)

Editors’ notes:

The button is visible on Pitchup.com in the top right-hand corner of campsite pages or the “places to go” section, for example: http://www.pitchup.com/campsites/England/East_Anglia/Norfolk/Burnham_Deepdale/deepdale-camping/

About www.pitchup.com

Pitchup.com is the most comprehensive website in its sector, with 5,000 UK and Ireland campsites and holiday parks featured including hundreds of hard-to-find sites. The website has an easy-to-use search facility and contains information on accommodation near nine National Parks, hundreds of beaches, 17 World Heritage Sites, and the main UK festivals.

About TomTom

TomTom NV (AEX: TOM2) is the world’s leading provider of navigation solutions and digital maps. TomTom NV has over 3,300 employees working in four business units – TomTom, Tele Atlas, AUTO and WORK.

TomTom's products are developed with an emphasis on innovation, quality, ease of use, safety and value. TomTom's products include all-in-one navigation devices which enable customers to navigate right out of the box; these are the award-winning TomTom GO family, the TomTom XL and TomTom ONE ranges and the TomTom RIDER. Additionally, independent research proves that TomTom products have a significant positive effect on driving and road safety.

Tele Atlas delivers the digital maps and dynamic content that power some of the world’s most essential navigation and location-based services (LBS). Through a combination of its own products and partnerships, Tele Atlas offers digital map coverage of more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. The AUTO business unit develops and sells navigation systems and services to car manufacturers and OEMs. WORK combines industry leading communication and smart navigation technology with leading edge tracking and tracing expertise.

TomTom NV was founded in 1991 in Amsterdam and has offices in Europe, North America, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. TomTom is listed at Euronext Amsterdam in The Netherlands. For more information, go to www.tomtom.com.

Issued by Flagship Consulting

For further media information please contact:

Casey Mead     020 7886 8450 casey.mead@flagshipconsulting.co.uk

Lewis Shields   020 7886 8449 lewis.shields@flagshipconsulting.co.uk