Camping Trade World – Issue 05

DOING BUSINESS WITH... SWEDEN
LARS-ERIK HÖRMANDER, chairman of HRF (Swedish Leisure Vehicle Industry Association)
“The camping and leisure vehicle
market in Sweden shows good
growth. Up to September, the
number of registered caravans
increased by 11 per cent and
motorhomes by 30 per cent.
Campsites increased their number
of guest nights between June and
August with 20 per cent in total
during that period corresponding
to 10.9 million guest nights.
“The leisure vehicle industry
shows good economic growth
and the retailers have almost sold
out and concentrate on sales of
new models and used caravans
and motorhomes. Like the rest of
Europe, the manufactures have
had problems with delivery of
essential parts to their production
which can cause a negative impact
on deliveries of new models.
This can be a problem, but the
industry has good hope that there
soon will be a solution to this
problem. Consumers have found
leisure mobile living in their own
country very interesting due to the
pandemic and its restrictions. It
seems like the domestic interest
will continue but hopefully the
international visitors will also
come back when the pandemic
restrictions have ended.
“A challenge we are facing
is the proposal from the public
authorities to make changes in
the Bonus Malus system to raise
the taxes even more to reduce
emissions of carbon dioxide. HRF
has made a lot of effort towards
politicians to convince them
that the manufactures of leisure
vehicles in Europe can’t provide
the Swedish market with leisure
vehicles that are electrified which
means that buyers don’t have any
alternative today. Our challenge is
to get the politicians to listen to
our predictions of a market decline
if they fulfil the proposal of raising
the tax in the Bonus Malus system
to a level that will have negative
impact on the Swedish leisure
vehicle industry. Our calculation
shows that on average every newly
registered motorhome will have
an extra tax of SEK 100/10km.
Sweden is the only country in
Europe where the politicians and
public authorities have a proposal
of increased tax in the Bonus
Malus system for newly registered
motorhomes. The manufactures
in Europe have no interest to
have a special production for the
Swedish market until they have
developed motorhomes with fuel
that reduces emission of carbon
dioxide or are electrified when
it is a demand from the leading
European markets. A decline in
the industry will have negative
impact on the campsites especially
in the low season as the Motor
Caravans visitors have a travel
pattern during the whole year.
“Provided politicians and
public authorities listen to our
suggestions regarding this matter,
then we predict that the Swedish
leisure vehicle industry will
grow for many years to come.
The growth in the mobile living
market has a positive impact for
the Swedish hospitality industry
and gives tax revenues back to the
government.
“We are looking towards
2022 with big expectations and
hopefully the exhibition market be
back in normal so we can expose
camping and caravanning products
to media, retailers and consumers
with the same good sales result as
previous years.”
MARTIN JUHOS, marketing manager for SCR Swedish Camping
“The Swedish market is strong
and stable. The interest in
camping and the outdoors has
been growing for a long time
and got an extra boost during
the pandemic. It’s now bigger
than ever in Sweden. A normal
summer, camping holidays
amount to about 50 per cent
of all commercial guest nights
in Sweden. We have a leisure
vehicle market with doublefigure
growth and an increased
interest in active holidays, close to
nature experiences and more and
shorter trips. July was also the
best summer month ever when
it comes to the Swedish guest
nights. With growing interest
comes growing competition
and I think that this will
drive innovation and product
development even further.
“Right now, I think the biggest
opportunity for everyone in this
industry are all new guests that
have discovered camping during
the pandemic. Both in Sweden
and in Europe. We need to make
sure they come back and be
able to support their needs and
help during the entire customer
journey, from inspiration, to
booking and to post-trip surveys.
“I think there are a couple
of important challenges on the
market. One is to ensure that the
incoming market is restarted in to
ensure an interest in travelling to
Sweden. We saw a huge increase
in demand from the German
and Dutch market already this
summer and I think it’s important
to be a part of the European
travel planning for 2022. Related
to this is of course the digital
distribution, the industry need big
global marketplaces with reach.
We are connecting our own CRS
to several European marketplaces
and I think it’s really important
for the individual campsite
to spend time on their digital
strategy. Finally, sustainability and
electrification will have an impact
on travel habits and you need to
be prepare for that.
“We will see a more normal
year in 2022. Last year the
booking window was very short
and no one knew what to expect
for the summer. With a normal
planning process I hope and
believe that the international
guests will come back. Also,
I think we will see more new
campsite concepts and added
uniqueness than usual. For
years it’s been about location
and price. Now we will see
much more brand building with
lifestyle marketing, niche market
segments like golfers, surfer and
hikers etc will get more attention.
We will also see the return of
packaging accommodation and
activities in one service. This will
be crucial to get more people to
camp more often.”
Learn more about the Swedish
camping market by listening to
our podcast with Johan Söör at
www.campingtradeworld.
com/category/podcast
www.campingtradeworld.com | 31