OVER 50 new holiday homes are being added by an award-winning Pembrokeshire park group as staycation demand continues to rise due to Covid-19.

Celtic Holiday Parks has secured a six-figure finance package from HSBC UK

to expand the holiday rental fleet across its three sites - Croft Country Park, Reynalton; Noble Court Holiday Park, Narberth and Meadow House Holiday Park, Amroth - as well new dining and wellbeing facilities on two of the sites.

The HSBC UK funding was secured as part of the government-backed Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).

Huw Pendleton, managing director at Celtic Holiday Parks, said: "This season has been a very challenging time for holiday parks across the UK, made even more challenging with additional localised and Wales lockdowns.

"When restrictions were eased, we did see a huge rise in demand for staycations. In order to meet this demand, we knew we needed to invest in the expansion of our holiday parks now more than ever. "HSBC UK - in particular, our relationship director Alex Loxton - has done a fantastic job in supporting us during this period and enabling us to re-open our doors to our wonderful guests who couldn’t wait to come back to their ‘happy place’.

"We also wanted to thank our new finance director, Chris Thomas of SME Finance Partners, who was instrumental in supporting us to produce forecasts and information needed to secure the HSBC UK funding.”

Warren Lewis, head of corporate banking, Wales, HSBC UK, added: “Celtic Holiday Parks is one of the most well-known holiday park groups in Wales, with luxury facilities available in Pembrokeshire for everyone.

"After many critical months closed to the public, and subsequent localised lockdowns followed by the Wales fire-break closure, we look forward to seeing the parks open again very soon.

"The three parks are looking better than ever, giving hundreds of people the chance to get away whilst some restrictions are still in place. We are delighted we were able to support Huw and his hard-working team through these challenging times and look forward to continue seeing the business flourish.”

Celtic Holiday Parks (www.celticholidayparks.com) was awarded Best Caravan and Glamping in Wales at the National Tourism Awards in 2018.