Caravanning continues to gain importance as a tourism and economic factor

More and more Germans are opting for a vacation close to nature with a motor caravan and caravan. This trend had started long before Corona and was further fueled by the pandemic. This development is having an extremely positive impact on Germany as a tourist destination: caravanning tourists generate over 15 billion euros in tourism revenue for the German economy every year. With smart investments, less developed tourist regions in particular can benefit from this trend.

On behalf of the CIVD, the German Institute of Economic Research for Tourism (dwif) at the University of Munich has conducted extensive studies on caravanning tourism in Germany. The most recent study shows that caravanning tourists generate annual revenues of more than 15 billion euros for the domestic economy. 4.8 billion euros remain directly in the tourist areas. The local economy benefits from this, as Dr. Bernhard Harrer, board member of the dwif, explains: “The operators of camping and motor caravan sites not only pay their employees from the revenue, but also suppliers of goods. This starts with the baker around the corner and extends to the energy supplier. In addition, there are service providers such as handicraft businesses, advertising agencies, tax consultants or insurance companies. So the money collected stays in the economic cycle.” Caravanning has thus generated important income for the tourism regions that have been hard hit by Corona, and has secured tens of thousands of jobs.

Caravanning infrastructure holds enormous potential

However, the growing number of leisure vehicles is also posing challenges for the tourism infrastructure in Germany. Although the number of motor caravan sites has now grown to over 5,000, the rapid increase in the number of vehicles makes proactive investment even more important: Although there is still no sign of a nationwide shortage of sites, there may already be bottlenecks in overnight accommodation in regions that are in particularly high demand. For this reason, the CIVD has been involved in infrastructure development for several years: “Caravanning will continue to attract more and more tourists in the future. Therefore, smart and sustainable investments in infrastructure are needed now. As an association, we are actively approaching decision-makers in politics and business and promoting our form of vacation as a tourism driver. Many players are not even aware of how much tourism and economic potential there is in our form of vacation,” reports Daniel Onggowinarso, Managing Director of the Caravaning Industrie Verband (CIVD). Interested investors and municipalities can get individual advice from the experts of the CIVD. In addition, the association offers guides for planning and implementing pitch projects.