Publication: Camping Study 2022 – Examination of selected aspects of German campers’ choice of campsite

The interest of Germans in camping and caravanning is unbroken – after the Covid-19 pandemic has subsided, the simultaneity of other crises (war in Ukraine, inflation, climate change) cannot affect this. Following an initial study in 2021 on camping travel activity and Germans’ interest in camping in times of the coronavirus pandemic, the German Institute for Tourism Research has conducted another independent research project on this growing segment. This time, the study focused on various aspects of German campers’ choice of campsite, including the relevance of selected campsite features and services for the choice of campsite as well as media use for inspiration and information purposes when searching for a campsite. The results were examined for possible significant correlations with aspects of camping travel behaviour (e.g. chosen form of accommodation, travel organization from home or on the road) and campsite use (e.g. number of sites visited per trip), so that the study also provides detailed findings for individual groups of campers. The results show, for example, that 77% of German campers who undertook at least one camping trip with four or more overnight stays and campsite use in the period from January 2020 to mid-November 2022 consider the facilities and services offered by a campsite to be important to very important when choosing a campsite. When it comes to specific features and services of a campsite, the availability of sanitary facilities, a natural location of the campsite and the costs for pitches and travelers are the most relevant factors when choosing a campsite among the 30 offers surveyed. A differentiated analysis according to the type of accommodation usually used for longer camping trips shows that users of rental accommodation in particular, but also motorhome users, attach significantly more importance to certain services, such as shopping facilities for food and a gastronomic offer on the campsite, than travelers with caravans or tents. With regard to the way in which campsite visits are planned, it can be seen that visitors who always stay at the same campsite and campers who only look for a campsite while on the road attach less importance to many campsite offers than those campers who select the campsites for their trips at least partly in advance of the trip. Campers get inspiration for possible campsites in particular from search engines, campsite websites and conversations with relatives or acquaintances; they also obtain specific information about an interesting campsite directly from the campsite. There are significant correlations between media use and the way in which campsite visits are planned almost exclusively in relation to inspiration via online media: in all cases, these are used significantly more frequently by campers who (also) plan their trip while on the road than by campers who select all campsites in advance of their trip. The difference is highest when using maps from online map services. These and many other results of the study have been published in the form of a free chart report.

Further multivariate analyses are planned in order to investigate the requirements of German campers in terms of facilities and services at campsites in greater depth. The survey was conducted online in November / December 2022 via the field institute Innolink Germany GmbH among the German-speaking resident population aged 18-74 (quotas by gender, age, place of residence and school education) who had taken at least one camping trip with four or more overnight stays and used a campsite in the last three years (2020 to 2022) (n = 1,084).