Summer, sun, package holiday? Boring! Aside from mass tourism in a hotel bunker, vacations in the open air are luring the public. In these difficult pandemic-stricken times, more and more people are deciding to drive off into the blue. Regarding the appropriate vehicle, aspects such as comfort, compactness and connectivity play a major role. Keywords that promoting companies should immediately integrate into their marketing timetables when addressing their target group.
Spending the vacation within one’s own four walls – which for a long time seemed to be the only option in times of Corona – Is indeed the dream holiday for many Europeans. At least almost. Because actually they prefer to set off on their holiday with their house on wheels. Camping holidays are booming as the overview of statistics on last year’s overnight campsite stays show even prior to the Corona pandemic. The camping sites in France alone recorded 128 million overnight stays in 2019, followed by Italy (54.6 mil.), the UK (51.4 mil.), Spain (40 mil.), Germany (35.7 mil.) and the Netherlands (21.9 mil.). In the COVID year 2020, according to the European statistics portal Eurostat, like all other tourist companies, campsite operators suffered strong losses, they did however get off lightly compared to the operators of hotels and guest houses. European-wide there was a 38% decline in overnight stays on campsites in the summer of 2020, whereas in hotels and similar institutions the number of overnight stays decreased by 63%. Hence, the share of overnight stays in relation to the overall number of touristic overnight stays increased once again significantly in the Corona year.
But why do so many people spend their leisure time in the four walls of Bürstner, Concorde, Fendt, Hobby, Knaus Tabbert, Pössl and VW vehicles? The motorhome rental portal, roadsurfer. com, lists five reasons for the trend: Firstly, adults like recalling the camping holidays of their own childhood and want to repeat their past experiences with their own family. Secondly, the feeling of freedom is appealing, because depending on the weather and mood the route can be selected anew every day. The fact that camping no longer means one has to do without anything is further fuelling the hype as well as the circumstance that an overnight stay at a camping site is much cheaper than an overnight stay in a hotel. roadsurfer cites the Robinson Crusoe phenomenon as the fifth reason: Sitting round a camp fire, putting up tents, swarms of mosquitos and starry skies, one switches over into the do-it-yourself mode and takes on new challenges.
Individually on the road
Unbeatable advantage of camping: Each trip can be tailormade to suit one’s own interests, hobbies and preferences. It is therefore no wonder that the motto of the image campaign of the CIVD (Caravaning Industrie Verband e.V./Caravanning Industry Association) that was distinguished with a German Brand Award 2020 is “You can do anything. But you don’t have to.”, which underlines the USP of caravaning. “Caravanning stands for independent, flexible and self-determined travel and thus catches the spirit of the time,” reported Daniel Onggowinarso, Managing Director of the CIVD. “More and more holidaymakers appreciate the diversity of this form of holiday, whether they want to set off for the sea, the mountains or a city – all of this is possible with one leisure vehicle. As such, vacations spent in a motorhome or caravan have recently experienced a positive image change and are no longer considered to be square or cheap, but instead cool and hip.”
Always connected: Magnets set into the base of the drink utensils of silwy® and connect up with metal non-slip pads, mats and panels.
The TV channel DMAX even filmed a whole series together with the CIVD: In Caravanning & Cooking – Brian on a big tour, the Danish chef Brian Bojsen undertakes culinary road trips across Europe, gets to know the country, the people and the food and prepares an appropriate menu in each episode in a different leisure vehicle. In 2019, the discovery channel stopped off at the Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf for the first time. At the exhibition stand – a converted Airstream caravan – there was plenty of Man‘s World merchandising, including survival food such as dried grasshoppers and mealworms, DMAX branded beer, caps, cups and give-aways such as cigarette lighters, ballpoint pens and stickers.
In addition to their high flexibility, motorhome and tent holidays promise to be big adventures and at the same time a reflection of the essentials, campfire romances and magical starry skies, lots of kilometres on the tarmac and nevertheless closeness to nature. Whereby everything is possible from the family vacation on the local camping site, to city tours, festival visits and short trips to the wildness, through to a journey around-theworld on four wheels. At present, however, not many people are travelling far away, they are staying in their own country instead. As such, the number of overnight stays by domestic campers even increased last year in many European countries, in Slovenia for instance by more than 70%; Austria (+32%) and Belgium (+25%) are also recording strong growth in the number of domestic campers. The CIVD has not only observed the trend towards regional travel since the COVID-19 pandemic. “The awareness for the ecological impact of travelling has increased significantly over the past years. Caravanning is profiting from this, because it is a comparably climate and eco-friendly holiday form, as scientific surveys have shown,” Onggowinarso stated.
Practical en route: the stackable crockery from the Connect series of koziol and the cutlery set Tulip.
There is enough space for campers – whether at home or abroad: According to the iwd (Information Service of the Institute of the German Economy), 28,443 campsites were registered EUwide in 2017. And caravanning has long since also become a profitable line of business. According to a survey of the dwif, outdoor enthusiasts spent 4.7 billion Euros on equipment such as awnings, marquees, tables, cookers, grills, cool boxes, gas cartridges and water filters in 2019. “Outdoor equipment like penknives and torches are of course the classics, but in the meantime electronic tools such as power banks are also indispensable,” Onggowinarso confirmed. The CIVD uses these and other items as haptic advertising media. Onggowinarso: “Since caravanning is above all also suitable for families, advertising gifts for the youngsters is always a good idea. Water balls and stickers are particularly popular with the kids and drink bottles among the adults. It is important for a product to be of attractive and creative design and that it doesn’t simply have a logo stuck on it.”
Space-saving and indestructible kitchen utensils are also among the essential accessories, such as for instance the crockery of the Connect series by koziol, which is additionally 100% recyclable and thus also does justice to the theme sustainability. The koziol cutlery set Tulip especially impresses nature-loving campers. Comprising of a knife, fork and spoon, the eye-catcher created by the London-based designer Cairn Young looks like a tulip stood up on the table. The magnetic plastic mugs and glasses of the silwy® brand ensure wow effects. Magnets set into the base of the drink utensils of silwy® connect up with the non-slip metal nano gel pads, metal mats and metal panels of the brand. The glasses and mugs are thus held so tightly in place that they don’t even fall over when climbing steep mountains. Wine stains, puddles of juice and spilt beer thus become a thing of the past while travelling.
Glamping versus minimalism
Troika is paying tribute to the legendary “Bulli”
with the VW Travel Case.
The travel industry has invented the trend word glamping for people, who like to camp in style. The short form of the term “Glamorous Camping” stands for the most luxurious version of a camping holiday. Glampers travel in opulently equipped motorhomes. But also, noble complexes with bungalows, tree houses, safari tents or wooden barrels invite people to glamp – holidays close to nature including room service and wellness treatments.
Contrary to this, a movement is currently gathering speed, which is bringing the minimalist lifestyle back onto the streets: Compact camping buses and vans without many frills are booming, because they are not only affordable, they are also practical too: Driving through crowded big cities and the narrow alps is child’s play with the small, agile buses. The travellers travel lightly, whereby weatherproof clothing, a first-aid kit, fly spray and a multifunctional tool for instance shouldn’t be missing. Troika has something very special up their sleeve for Bulli fans: The VW Travel Case, the sleeve of which resembles the cover of the operating manual of the VW T1. It offers space for everything that has to be on board from the vehicle registration, to cables and adapters, through to a flashlight.
Ideal companion for long trips (f.t.l.): The lip care product Suncare Eco with a sun protection factor of 30 in the ecological push-up sleeve made of FSC-certified carton of KHK and the anti-fly spray by FranCos. Camping coffee junkies swear by the enamel cup by Mahlwerck and the patented Coffeebrewer to-go by Römer Drinks.
Back to the roots, but digitally please
Intraco offers individualisable technology gadgets e.g. the solar module Hybrid Power.
Whereas travelling around in a motorhome was primarily popular with elder people in the past, today more and more young people enjoy the independence on four wheels. Ultimately, taking a look at the social media, where the younger caravaners share their travel experiences under the hashtag #vanlife and network with the community, makes it clear that the image of the rather bourgeois permanent campers is no longer fitting.
Digital networking is also on the advance in other areas as well. For instance, the devices in a leisure vehicle can be digitally selected via a central remote control, the filling status of the gas bottle and water tank can be called up on the smartphone and the heating or air-conditioning can be controlled via app. Onggowinarso: “Connectivity and usability are important trends, the vehicles are becoming more and more connected, and can be operated more easily and more intuitively. Overall, the comfort of the vehicles, also the equipment and design options have improved. The manufacturers compensate for the additional weight of the many extras with lightweight constructions.” Hence, the younger target group lets itself be wooed over by promoting companies ideally with smart gadgets like multifunctional cable, power banks and mobile phone holders.
// Jasmin Oberdorfer
photos: DMAX/Amin Abousteit (2); FranCos (1); Intraco (1); KHK (1); koziol (1); maglassX (1); Mahlwerck Porzellan (1); Pexels (1); Römer Wein und Sekt (1), Troika (1)
