Peter Doornekamp – Campingnavigator

The Dutch Campingnavigator has been operating on the European tourism market for years with the aim of bringing Dutch tourists closer to accommodation in other countries. To find out how the difficult 2020 season was dealt with and what the prospects are for the future, we spoke to Peter Doornekamp, General Manager of the company.

Camping Business: What is Campingnavigator and how does it position itself on the Dutch and European market?
Peter Doornekamp: We at Campingnavigator like to call ourselves The Dutch Market Experts in Camping Business. So, we LOVE camping and especially promoting campings all over Europe with a Dutch cultural point of view. And this means not only when it comes to offline and online marketing, but also on every aspect where our services and network can help a camping to improve itself. Whether it is small or very large, family based or group owned, we like to connect and help out to reach the best possible communication and promotion in the Dutch market.

Camping Business: What is the importance of Italy in your business?
Peter Doornekamp: I started my ‘career’ in the camping business actually in Italia, as “animatore” at Camping Spina in the province of Ferrara. From there I fell in love with the country and it has been a strong bond ever since. Although we work with and for campings from all over Europe, of course. The Italian market is important because many Dutch love the country and especially the people in it. And therefor it is an absolute match for both campings and campers. For the campings, because a Dutch guest is a pleasant guest, in general, willing to spend already such a distance to get there, and then willing to spend also a little more on the camping itself. And the campers, because many of them apply to the level of atmosphere a Dutch guest can appreciate. Italy is among the most important southern holiday countries for the Dutch.

Camping Business: What kind of services do you offer to the structures that decide to work with you? And what are the services you want to offer to the campers instead?
Peter Doornekamp: Campingnavigator has a long history as promotional channel for campings. We started as Kosmos Campingwijzer in 1983, as one of the most important camping guides in the Netherlands. In time we developed into full promotional services, both online (downloadable guides, e-newsletters, web presentations, social media campaigns) and offline (camping fairs, Ontdek Magazine). Nowadays this has resulted in a wide range of products for the small and medium campings and a more tailor-made service level for the bigger camping – and marketing groups and country and regional promotion. I think we have a very strong position in the so-called “long tail”, i.e. campings just below the level of the highly professional camping groups with their own marketing departments. In many cases these smaller campings are still visited and advised by our consultants.

And on the other hand, we have a very vast group of clients that need another level. Full-service media planning, large campaigns, CPC/CPS based, structured through Google Analytics and with a clear need for a higher level of marketing skills. For these we provide statistic learnings, content creation and translations. So, we offer the content creation on one side, and the ways to distribute that content on the other side. ALWAYS from a Dutch point of view. For that is REALLY making the difference… As for campers, we offer them information about the loveliest, funniest, prettiest campings in the whole of Europe. And that is a position that suits us very well. In time we have supplied especially the Dutch camping guests with such a lot of information, through our guides, website and magazines, that it has resulted in a strong SEO position in the search engines. WHich helps us even more to promote the 8.000 campings in our database.

Camping Business: This was an unusual summer. How did the habits of campers change?
Peter Doornekamp: At first there was much anxiety everywhere. Can we still go on camping holiday? Will it be safe? Where do we go? Really early in the season, at Campingnavigator we did a research among 25.000 Dutch campers in our database and the results were very clear: as soon as it was possible, the campers were ready to go out camping again. In general, they stayed much more in the country of origin, not only in the Netherlands, but throughout Europe. People checked in advance the special app from the Ministery of Foreign affairs, which indicated the “color” and thus the risks involved in visiting a foreign country. These codes tended to change quite a lot, also between countries. So that was not a very nice situation…

Also, people made sure they had a pitch by making reservations online, much more than before. This lead in some cases to people who travelled around in the NL, or abroad nearby like Germany AND WERE UNABLE TO FIND A PITCH BECAUSE EVERYTHING WAS FULL. I expect the habit of going just like that, without a booking, will diminish even more next year. Especially when it will be possible to travel abroad further away once more. At the same time, you saw the growing importance of the private sanitary facilities. Preferably right next to the pitch. A lot of Dutch campings invested last minute in such facilities. And still do.

Camping Business: In which countries has campings suffered the most?
Peter Doornekamp: That depends. In general, I would say that the countries with a small domestic market have really felt more pain than the countries that could focus on their own inhabitants as an alternative for the foreigners. A very clear example is Croatia, that has been a tourist paradise for many nationalities, but has a rather low home-country based clientele. Which put them in difficulty. For all countries, it differed from camping to camping, depending on the region, structure and character of the camping.

Simple to say: a camping that already worked a lot with (returning) guests in their own country has probably suffered less than resorts that depended largely on visitors from further away… To stick with Italy: Venice and Garda region have suffered a lot compared to regions less dependent on the numbers of Dutch and German guests they usually see. I saw this with my own eyes, as I traveled with my family from Bergamo (where I keep my caravan at Lago di Endine) to Lago di Levico, to Cavallino. On all campings there were large numbers of the usual clients missing. Also because Italy was the first country in the news with the virus, especially Bergamo and Dolomites. So, when I went there many people asked me if I was crazy. But: I wanted to see and testify that the opposite was the case, it all felt safer, with much more distance than staying at home in the Netherlands, where all campings were FULL.

In general: the countries in the south of Europe suffered the most from the virus. As most of the people from the north decided to stay in the north, the campings there saw an extreme growth in numbers. They lost the first low season, but that was pretty well compensated in summer and late September. Luckily for Venice and Garda, the after season made up a bit.

Camping Business: In terms of results, how have things been going for you in recent months?
Peter Doornekamp: Well, I can say I am a lucky man. Campingnavigator has a different kind of season than the campings themselves. So, when we already had finished the promotional items for this year (guides, magazine, fairs) and kept focusing on campaigns, we did not have to talk about promotion at a moment where it would absolutely not have been proper…

In fact, we decided to inform our clients we would postpone any promotional actions to later in the season, when they needed it. So we did. After it was clear the season could start, we restarted the mail campaigns and all that. And luckily most campings realized that we still need to promote ourselves also for the years to come. So, our role as Dutch Market Expert is still very much appreciated. Which I can see in the figures, luckily enough. Of course, we had a downfall as well, I guess just as everybody else these past months. But the main base is there, just as the campings will also still be there next year to welcome all the guests once more.

Camping Business: Do you think the campings reacted adequately to the health emergency?
Peter Doornekamp: I think everybody tried as hard as they could to react on the ongoing situation. We knew very little and there was a lot of fear. Different countries used different measures. Italy used the hardest lockdown I have seen in Europe, together with the Spanish. In those circumstances, I think we all did very well as campings business. Screens, sterilize fluid everywhere, better circulation on the camping in the shops, sanitary services and reception. I think campings has proven themselves this year as ONE OF THE SAFEST AND HEALTHIEST WAYS OF ENJOYNIG THE HOLIDAYS. I consider this as a great advantage we have in future years.

Camping Business: In this situation, how has the way you work changed?
Peter Doornekamp: As a rule in the Netherlands, we are kindly advised NOT to gather in office buildings when we can avoid that. So: we don’t. We have a beautiful small office in Amsterdam with the best view on the city there is, but we work online from home now. We have developed also there, with online task lists, video calls with clients, suppliers and our colleagues. We’ll get back there when needed, but I must say… I like it this way. Turns out you don’t need a Greek temple to do your job properly!

Camping Business: What do you think must be done to push the Dutch tourist to return to vacation abroad?
Peter Doornekamp: Oh, the Dutch are BORN TO STRAY, don’t worry about that. We LOVE to leave our flat little country when we can. (And we LOVE to return too, make no mistake). As soon as the risks of going abroad are fading, they will return. So, this started and probably will end with proper communication too. Do not overdo or emphasize the whole security thing. It is a main topic, but NOT a USP. My main story is always the same: you need to co-involve, to engage the potential client in your own story. There is no other way to get and keep close. Content, content, content. My pet topic. BE transparent, SOUND authentic, KEEP close. That’s why the cultural aspect is the main input for any content. Because it answers to those three things.

Camping Business: What do you expect for the next year?
Peter Doornekamp: Oh, if I had only a glass bowl… If there is ONE thing we have learned from this virus, then we prepared for the unpreparable. Every time it looks like it has another surprise for us. And much depends also on any vaccines and what they promise… But: I trust in the ingenuity and creativity of mankind to overcome these difficulties. We can see a restore of foreign traffic, not completely at the levels we had before. That will take a while. Trust comes by foot and goes on horseback. But a first return will be there next year.

Booking season has delayed in my opinion, with approximately 2-3 months. We think Christmas will be the first real sign of early bookings this year, apart from very early people. And then we expect from March-April-May a last-minute high season booking period. So, for now, I suggest everybody to prepare well. Update your website. Take care of good translations. Setup your offers together with us. Keep your main budgets for campaigns ready for that period. I am quite confident the next camping season will already show a BIG STEP into recovery. Both from the virus as well as in Camping Business!