A YORK based holiday park owner and operator has reported its most successful six months to date with year-on-year revenues rising by more than 50 per cent to £28.4 million.

Park Leisure, which employs a team of 27 at its head office in York Business Park, has recorded operating profits of £3.4 million for six months ending June 30, 2015, up 70 per cent on the same period last year.

With turnover up 56 per cent, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) increased by 59 per cent to £5.1 million.

The results follow a strong trading year in 2014, when Park Leisure turned over £39.4 million across its parks, achieving a 27 per cent growth on the previous year.

The privately owned company strengthened its portfolio of 11 country and leisure parks and nearly 3,000 holiday homes earlier this year, with the £15 million acquisition of Plas Coch Holiday Homes in Anglesey, in what was deemed the "biggest and most important strategic acquisition" for the business to date.

Plas Coch will become the group’s flagship park, with the addition to the portfolio meaning the company now employs 300 staff members across its 11 parks, a 100 per cent increase since 2011.

Further investment, totalling £2.1million, has also been made in the first half of this year, improving the facilities at each of the 11 locations.

Gary Molloy, chief executive at Park Leisure, said: "The surge in popularity of caravanning and holidaying in the UK, as well as our recent acquisition and mass investment across the 11 sites, has meant we are able to boast our most successful year and a half to date.

"The acquisition of Plas Coch Holiday Homes was a major milestone for Park Leisure, helping us to achieve even bigger presence in the UK across a total of 11 sites.

"It provided a significant growth opportunity for the company as we continue to push industry boundaries, offering five star, premium holiday parks unlike anywhere else in the UK."

On the back of its results, Park Leisure partnered with Onepoll in a bid to understand the motivation of customers, looking into the the reasons how and why demand in caravan ownership and UK holiday homes is stronger than ever.

The survey showed nearly 200,000 Brits now own a static holiday home in the UK, investing an average of £55,000, with one in ten of those surveye using their pension, and one in five re-mortgaging their first home.