LeadingCampings of Europe recommends to students the newly created Master’s programme “Sustainable Outdoor Hospitality Management”, which is funded by the EU with the Erasmus+ programme. The cooperation of 37 luxury campsites in Europe has developed this programme in cooperation with three European universities, starting in the winter semester of 2023.
“Despite the growing importance of the camping industry for the entire European economy and its significant contribution for making holidays more environmentally friendly, there is still no formal education specialised in sustainable campsite management in Europe,” regrets Simone Pokrandt, Managing Director of LeadingCampings. “However, we want to change that: Together with three universities, we have developed the completely new and unique Master in Sustainable Outdoor Hospitality Management degree programme. With this we underline both our proactive actions and thinking as innovation and opinion leaders in the premium and luxury camping segment, while on the other hand we are working in a future-oriented way and want to maintain and further develop the high level of quality for us and the entire industry,” adds the ambitious tourism expert.
From October this year, the enrolment period will begin at the universities for the start of the study programme in the winter semester 2023. The Master’s programme “Sustainable Camping Resort (Outdoor Hospitality) Management” will start at the University of Girona (Spain). The 2nd semester will take place at the University of Applied Sciences Breda (Netherlands) and the 3rd semester at the University of Rijeka (Croatia). After the theoretical education in management, the final exam in the 4th semester is followed by the final thesis and an internship of several weeks on the curriculum – optionally at one of the 37 owner-managed luxury campsites of LeadingCampings. In this way, students will be given a comprehensive, practice-oriented and international approach to their future profession.
” It is of importance to us to promote young talents and to provide them with attractive career prospects,” outlines the LeadingCampings managing director. “With this leading initiative, we also underline the importance of qualified training for the entire European camping industry and want to raise awareness for more sustainability in campsite management.”
Camping is one of the most popular forms of holiday in Europe – the Corona pandemic has pushed this trend even further: For this year, the association of luxury campsites LeadingCampings is again recording a meaningful high volume of bookings.
According to the Eurostat report for 2019, the European outdoor hospitality industry generates around twelve billion euros with 28,400 campsites. The camping industry alone generates twelve percent of all overnight stays in Europe. In countries like Denmark, Luxembourg and France, camping accounts for about a third of all overnight stays. With a total capacity of around 18,000 pitches and more than 5,000 rental homes, LeadingCampings recorded around ten million overnight stays last year, underlining its leading position in the European camping market.
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