In the wake of recent the earthquakes that gripped Türkiye's southeast and with the fear of one hitting Istanbul, the country's social and economic hub sitting on the edges of the North Anatolian fault line (NAF), many people are seeking alternative accommodation options, one of them being caravans.
With caravans parked on the streets and drawing attention, caravan manufacturers say they cannot keep up with orders since the Feb. 6 earthquakes.
"As earthquakes are a (part) of the agenda of Istanbul, there are people who do not want to experience that process,'' caravan salesperson Gökhan Düzolan told Demirören News Agency (DHA) on Monday.
''Everyone living in a house wants a caravan. There is a 70% increase in demand," Düzolan said.
After the earthquake disaster, many living in ''unsafe'' houses started to search for alternative lifestyles, noting they do not want to be caught unprepared in the case of a high tremor close to the metropolitan areas. Apart from an increasing interest in caravans, many Istanbulites also turned to look for alternate housing locations, turning toward the East Thrace region in the northwest, where demand for real estate sales recently boomed.
Düzolan, who stated that they used to sell up to two caravans per month in Istanbul noted that the number has now increased to 10 after the earthquake and said, "The ones whose houses were heavily damaged came to us.''
''There were people from Gaziantep, Hatay, who came to us and bought caravans,'' he added, reiterating that demand is shifting to people from Istanbul, who want to alleviate the earthquake fear. ''It's safer for us. My daughter also lives in a caravan,'' he noted.
Previously, people weren't all that keen on staying in caravans, but after the earthquake, people started asking questions such as: "What would happen if we had a night like that? Where would we go? Should we live in a caravan full-time?" People now come to at least check and get informed about how caravans are being built.
At the same time, interest in the caravans is being raised across Türkiye with promotion days for one of the leading luxurious caravan producers being held recently in the western province of Izmir.
Emphasizing that the "climate conditions in Türkiye are suitable for the caravan lifestyle," Berkan Ülker, a caravan firm representative, compared the demand in Türkiye with the demand in England noting that this lifestyle is more feasible in Türkiye due to the four seasons the country has.
However, company representatives and caravan producers highlight the importance of research and working out the viability prior to purchase.
