Focus on the 2022 season with Campingnavigator

We interviewed Peter Doornekamp who, in addition to being a marketing and communication professional and a prestigious collaborator of Camping Business for the Dutch area, is the editor of ONTDEK Magazine and owner of Campingnavigator, the specialized Dutch portal which, for 35 for years, he has been in charge of putting campsites, also in Italy, in contact with tourists from the Netherlands. After the release of its first guide in 1983, Campingnavigator has grown to become, today, an online platform which lists thousands of European campsites, all inspected by its team. In his almost perfect Italian, Peter gave us his vision on the current situation of outdoor holidays in Italy and Europe, on the expectations of Dutch tourists and also on the future of the sector.

Camping Business: How is the 2022 season going, from your point of view?
Peter Doornekamp: The market is recovering very well, despite this last “black hole” of the war in Ukraine, into which Europe has recently plunged. It seems, however, that reservations are arriving with a slight delay. Dutch tourists seem not particularly worried and certainly do not seem to want to give up holidays in Southern Europe. Rather, I must say that I am very positive for Italy but pessimistic for Croatia. In the Netherlands, in fact, there is the idea that Croatia is a nation that belongs to Eastern Europe and the Dutch public perceives this area as critical and at risk of war. It is only an inference, of course, but I am convinced that this thought will penalize Croatia in terms of arrivals from the Netherlands. Even emerging tourist nations such as Poland and the Baltic countries will certainly experience a significant decline. I have the feeling that the reservations that are yet to arrive will be mostly directed toward European nations considered stable such as France, Spain and, of course, Italy. However, we are definitely returning to pre-covid traffic levels and it will no longer be a tourism worried about the pandemic but more about the geopolitical assets of the regions.

Camping Business: Can you see a positive year, then?
Peter Doornekamp: Definitely positive, a return to pre-pandemic levels. The top destinations that I see for 2022, for tourism from Northern Europe, will be above all France, Spain and Italy. We are still receiving requests for online campaigns, so the season is still largely work in progress. It seems, this year, that the period between orientation and booking is shorter. It is an anomalous situation but it simply means that tourists are still deciding where to book. I expect a last minute flow at pre-covid levels and even then we will have the tools to bring reservations to the campsites. The interesting thing is that this situation of shortened times for us means that we can bring more traffic for direct booking. In fact, we bring traffic directly to the camping site and it is the structure itself that makes the booking, without commissions: this is one of our most important Usp (Unique Selling Proposition), that is our exclusive sales argument. I believe in bringing traffic directly, I believe in a more independent mode of camping. The camping doesn’t have to depend too much, in my opinion, as a structure, on the marketing of others, such as tour operators. In fact, when a campsite starts a collaboration with us, we create a top presentation that becomes the starting point for bringing direct traffic. And we take care of all the promotion. Campingnavigator is the most effective tool in this situation to collect bookings, I see it from the online campaigns which, as already mentioned, closed much earlier in previous year.

Camping Business: Is an online campaign by Campingnavigator at this moment going to intercept that segment of tourists who are about to make their own decisions to book?
Peter Doornekamp: Exactly. The traffic that brings Campingnavigator arrives directly on the site of the camping, wich makes the direct booking. To further expand our effectiveness in online campaigns, we are also collaborating with 7 specialized Dutch portals, each with its own different target: we focus more on the low and mid season while others are interested in developing more the family and holiday market in the more intense seasonal periods. Working with this network we are also gathering collaborations with the Regions, for example in Italy and Austria, because they are also promoting themselves online and they are organizations that need to have direct traffic on their site. Also in this segment I still see a lot of space remaining for online campaigns.

Camping Business: What is a direct message you want to give to the campsite operators, Italian first of all, but in general also to the European camping owners?
Peter Doornekamp: Always give yourself one last chance: the season isn’t over yet! There will be room for business even late in the season. April and May will be critical months in order to push online campaigns as they normally would have done in January and February: the market, compared to other years, is definitely delayed by at least a couple of months in its decisions. But the lingering wave, as I call it, is coming.

Camping Business: Sales of campers and caravans in Europe have exploded in the last two years: in your opinion, there will be a bottleneck between the number of vehicles heading to holiday campsites and the actual number of pitches available?
Peter Doornekamp: Lately we have seen large camping investments in glamping and mobile homes while, as a trend, it seems to us that camping with pitches is decreasing. I now believe that campsites that have always believed in RV customers will be favored. We have also noticed that the prices of the pitches, in high season, have slightly increased but the reservations, by tourists who are normally linked to the traditional summer holidays, will certainly not be lacking. In the same way, I believe that even in the low season 2022 the pitches will be much more occupied thanks, instead, to a “slower” tourism, such as pensioners or couples without children and, again, at that moment Campingnavigator will have a highly strategic value to bring traffic and camping reservations.

Camping Business: Tell us who is the typical Dutch camper nowadays and where he likes to go on vacation …
Peter Doornekamp: First of all, in the two years of the pandemic, I can say that the number of campers and caravans in the Netherlands has almost tripled. A sign, as we said previously, of a great interest reborn also in our country. The Dutch have always been campers; among us, in fact, there has never been the idea, prevalent in the Italian public, that a camping holiday is a low-profile holiday. In any case, the pandemic has given a new impetus to the sector in all its forms. This growth was also favored by the fact that, having collapsed the long distance market and its correlated tourist air traffic, many Dutch people, including myself, during 2020 and 2021, were still able to hook up the caravan or refuel and fill up their camper and leave toward Southern Europe, practically without constraints. The top destination of Dutch plein air travelers are historically France and Italy and I am sure that both countries will maintain their appeal for my compatriots who will confirm their massive presence also in 2022.

Camping Business: What can the Italian market do to further attract Dutch tourists to their campsites?
Peter Doornekamp: Many Dutch people who go to France always find a beautiful country that they like very much. But in my opinion there is a strength for Italy that makes a difference: the hospitality that comes from the Italian culture is something unique that perhaps the Italians underestimate and do not employ enough. We say that when you are in a group of Italians you always party: it is a character that Italian operators must take very seriously in my opinion. I advise Italian entrepreneurs in the sector to give a personal and genuine touch to their campsite as much as possible and to remember that your Italian character is itself a USP for the Dutch public, who love Italy as a country very much and feel so comfortable with you.

Camping Business: Can you give us your vision on the present moment and the future of camping?
Peter Doornekamp: The campsite is in extraordinary good health, no doubt about it. It reassures me a lot that the open air world, due to the two difficult years we have lived on a global level, has proved to be the practically perfect holiday solution for all the reasons we know: health security, social distancing and territorial proximity combined with high profile services, rapprochement with nature and the discovery of different and more sustainable rhythms and holidays.
In my opinion, the world of camping could also be a testing ground for many technologies, such as eco-sustainable buildings, renewable energy sources or electric mobility. In fact, the best campsites throughout Europe are equipping themselves with charging stations for electric cars, building mobile homes in recyclable and sustainable materials, adopting self-production systems of energy such as solar panels and promoting awareness and many virtuous conduct in consumption among their guests. It is a positive scenario that makes us look at the future with serenity if we, all of us operators, are able to support the market with efficiency and quality.