The Corona crisis has brought many new guests to campsites. A lot of the new campers also want to go camping again “after Corona”. This is confirmed by a recently published study conducted by the German Institute for Tourism Research at the Westküste University.
Another result: new and old campers value uncomplicated bookings
The tourism researchers studied camping trips and camping interest among Germans during the Corona pandemic. For this purpose, a total of 13,579 adult persons living in German-speaking private households were surveyed online at the end of 2021, of which 1,889 were campers. Campers were defined as persons who had undertaken at least one holiday trip with at least four overnight stays since the start of the Corona pandemic in March 2020, during which camping accommodation was chosen (e.g. tent, caravan, camper van, motor home or camping rental accommodation), but which was not on a pitch rented for several months or years (permanent camping).
Of the campers surveyed, 84.3% were so-called old campers who had already taken camping trips before the pandemic, and 15.7% were new campers who had taken a camping trip for the first time during the pandemic. More than half of the new campers (53.5%) said that the pandemic had influenced their decision to go camping. Hygiene, distance and safety, avoiding close contact, cancellation policies and honest communication from site operators were high on the list of priorities for new (and old) campers during the Corona pandemic.
Many of the new (and even more of the old) campers want to go camping again
38.7 % of new campers “quite definitely” plan to go camping again in the next three years. Another 47.8% say another camping trip would “generally be an option” for them. Among the old campers, two-thirds of the respondents are fairly certain to plan a camping trip in the next three years. For another 31.5%, this is generally a possibility. Only about one fifth of the old campers have a (rather) negative view of the upcoming competition from new campers when booking pitches or the higher number of guests on the site. According to the study, most established campers see it as positive that camping as a form of holiday close to nature is becoming more popular and that this is leading to a more diverse range of campsites.
Most important aspect of camping trips – uncomplicated booking and travel arrangements
Among the various aspects of a camping trip, the uncomplicated booking and handling of the trip is the most important for both new and old campers. Many respondents rated the ease of booking and the simplicity of the trip even higher than other important aspects such as getting to know and discovering many places, genuine, authentic experiences, closeness to nature, the facilities of the campsite or pitch and spontaneous decisions about the course of the trip.
Here you can find more information and download the report with further results of the study as PDF for free.
