Enthusiasm for caravanning as a form of holiday continues unabated despite Corona crisis

Holidays with motor caravans and caravans have experienced unprecedented popularity in recent years and interest is not ebbing away despite the Corona crisis. With the easing of contact and travel restrictions to combat the corona pandemic, new registrations of leisure vehicles are again rising significantly. A total of 14,073 leisure vehicles were newly registered last month. That is 15.9 percent more than in May 2019 and a new record for the merry month of May. At the end of March, motor vehicle dealerships had to temporarily close down at the joint decision of the Federal Government and the federal states due to the corona pandemic, which had led to a drastic slump in new registrations. “Now we are seeing a strong and expected catch-up effect,” says Daniel Onggowinarso, Managing Director of the caravanning industry association CIVD.

Over 10,000 vehicles for the first time – new record for motor caravans

New motor caravan registrations increased by a strong 31.7 percent compared to the same month last year. With 10,674 newly registered vehicles, they experienced the best month in their history. New caravan registrations, on the other hand, fell by 15.8 percent to 3,399 vehicles compared with the outstanding May of the previous year (best result since 2001). In the view of the industry association, there are two main reasons for the weaker performance of the caravan market: “Caravans are more sensitive to economic cycles and, due to the current economic uncertainty, some interested customers are holding back for now. In addition, the most important group of buyers, families, have often had to struggle with practical problems in everyday life due to closed schools and kindergartens and therefore have not yet had the opportunity to purchase a vehicle” explains Onggowinarso. “For these reasons, the catch-up effect for caravans is likely to set in a little later and more slowly,” concludes CIVD’s Managing Director optimistically.

Despite or because of Corona? Caravanning still extremely popular

Thanks to the good May result, the caravanning industry is largely back on track to continue the growth trend of previous years. Since the beginning of the year, a total of 41,713 leisure vehicles have been newly registered in Germany. Although this is 5.2 percent less than in the same period of the record year 2019, it is 8.3 percent more than in the strong year 2018. Despite the Corona crisis, new registrations of motor caravans (30,473 vehicles) in the first five months are even 2.1 percent up on the previous year. The industry expects demand to remain high in the coming months. “In these times, caravanning is one of the safest forms of holiday, as you travel with a leisure vehicle only with people of your own household and, thanks to your own sleeping, living, cooking and sanitary facilities, you are largely self-sufficient and at home practically everywhere. Therefore, many additional customers are interested in buying or renting a motor caravan or caravan,” says Onggowinarso.