Campsites in Germany − overnight stays increased by almost 2 percent between June and August

In the period from June to August, overnight stays away from home in Germany fell by 25 percent, while in the same period the camping sector recorded a +1.8 percent. In these structures, in the period considered, 23.2 million overnight stays were recorded. The data comes from the Camping.info portal, one of the largest in Europe with 23,000 registered campsites from 44 countries and over 35 million impressions per year, which it obtained by carrying out a survey on almost 5,000 campers.

“In this summer of Coronavirus, camping holidays have been considered one of the safest forms of holidays, constantly gaining new supporters,” said Maximilian Möhrle, managing director of Camping.info. “Social distancing is not a problem for campers, because they always have their home with them when they are out. As our survey of nearly 5,000 people shows, 80% of respondents felt safe or very protected from the Coronavirus when camping”.

As has happened in almost all European countries, domestic tourism has also grown in Germany, going from a share of 85% in 2019 to 92% this year. The number of overnight stays by guests from abroad decreased by 48 percent.

Möhrle is pleased that the camper’s desire to travel has not been canceled by the pandemic. “The frequency of camping holidays has changed slightly, but overall our interviewees have started traveling again,” he summarizes. “The results of our survey and the figures from the Federal Statistical Office make me very optimistic that 2021 will be a record year: many people have discovered or rediscovered this form of travel in 2020 and this number will continue to increase in 2021 too”.

What many campers missed this year was spontaneity. Due to the high demand on the campsites, it was often necessary to book. Plus, the way campers do it has also changed. Digitization advances and more and more holidays can be booked online. The preferred methods this year were e-mail, chosen by 40 percent of respondents, and online via the Internet (34%). In 2019, these figures were 31% and 26% respectively.