What do campers expect from future campsites? E-charging points or more accessible waste disposal facilities, unspoilt nature and new service ideas?
Camping entrepreneurs set the right course early for the campsite of the future
The Caravaning Industrie Verband e.V. (CIVD), the ADAC and the German Tourism Association invited to the «2nd German Pitch Day» at the Caravansalon. Well-known speakers, moderator Marco Walter from Ecocamping and around 60 entrepreneurs from the camping industry discussed the climate-neutral pitch of the future on 29 August. We were there.
What was discussed intensively by camping entrepreneurs and experts:
- Climate neutrality:
- The climate-neutral pitch or campsite requires timely, comprehensive planning: from infrastructure, financing and subsidies to building and network management, from campsite operation, mobility and guest expectations to service and experience ideas.
- Electromobility and power supply:
- Energy management must be comprehensively included in planning (sustainable generation at the campsite or pitch, storage, feed-in).
- In addition to stationary battery storage, stationary hydrogen systems can be a solution to store self-produced, renewable energy
- E-charging infrastructure needs to be comprehensively planned. Campsite operators should involve the municipality and electricity grid operators at an early stage to identify economic opportunities and avoid congestion.
- Charge columns at the campsite or build them separately? Charging columns should be technically separated from the existing pitch power supply in order to control the load and bill charging current separately.
- Under certain circumstances, only 11 KW charging should be offered – in order to protect the grid and so that guests do not stay only a few hours to charge.
- The charging current should be offered at a slightly lower price than normal pitch current so that guests do not charge at the normal socket and cause overloads.
- Entrepreneurs should plan the load distribution holistically and also include their own stationary and temporary electricity consumers (gastronomy, bread oven, etc.)
- Two of many visions: Guest vehicle batteries could also be used as a virtually interconnected electricity storage unit. Guests who have their own photovoltaics on their vehicles could be enabled to feed electricity into the grid.
More information and practical tips can be found in the free guide to electromobility for campsites, which Ecocamping and the Bavarian Camping Association have compiled.
Whether it’s a vineyard or a winter campsite – achieving sustainable success with new ideas
At the 2nd German Campsite Day, other ideas were also presented to contribute to economic and ecological sustainability:
- Arranging parking spaces for motorhomes and caravans.
The growing number of camping vehicles is increasingly taking up public parking space. The start-up My Camperhome wants to make it easier for motorhome and caravan owners to find parking spaces. This could also reduce neighbourly discord over parked-up streets.
Parking space providers would have the benefit of being able to rent out empty halls or existing spaces more easily. This is sustainable and economical. In addition, campers can leave their vehicles in the destination region and then travel to their destination in a fuel-saving manner. - Successful example of camper van pitches at the winery:
Guests who are not classic wine tourists are also reached. Moreover, camper van guests stay longer, consume more wine than day visitors and become important multipliers. Many guests want to intensively experience nature, farm life or the products or even help with the harvest or processing.
With comparable experience offers for campers, farms, cheese dairies, small breweries or «normal» campsites also make themselves interesting.
The future of tourism is nature-friendly, sustainable and of high quality
The continuing boom in campervans offers another opportunity: campsites or pitches, municipalities and regions that have welcomed few tourists so far could position themselves with attractive, sustainable offers. Many motorhome and caravan tourists can no longer find space in the hotspot destinations. They also want to discover special places, enjoy peace, culture or nature. More about this at the symposium Nature.Tourism.Future at the Caravansalon.
