A study commissioned by the Catalan Camping Federation (FCC) has come to the conclusion that the Catalan model of this type of tourist accommodation is clearly committed to a qualitative offer, placing its facilities around the highest categorization of the segment. With an offer of 353 campsites and 271,419 places, Catalonia is one of the main European destinations. They employ 15,695 people directly (more than 40,000 indirect jobs) and in recent years there has also been a progressive increase in users from Catalonia and the rest of Spain.
In 2023, 4,026,771 tourists decided to use camping as a form of accommodation in Catalonia, which represented a total of 19,248,700 overnight stays. This figure represents a third of Catalan tourist accommodation. The camping sector, in addition, is responsible for an impact of almost 2,467 million euros for the entire territory.
Miquel Gotanegra, president of a federation that represents 83.5% of the total positions in the sector, highlights the willingness to bet on quality, and assures that “seasonalization is key, it is our great challenge.” He adds that “only with longer seasons can we ensure growth by retaining talent and paying workers better.” And it seems that they are on the right track in the last two years, when the most important growth has come in the pre- and post-high season.
Miquel Gotanegra states that "despite the fact that there has been a lot of demagogy on the issue, the swimming pools at our campsites, which only account for 2% of total water consumption, are already full." And he says they are willing to do “whatever it takes” to fill them. He also remembers that in the last 25 years, campsites in Catalonia have reduced water consumption by more than 60%.
Especially relevant is the low weight of lower category campsites (they represent only 9.7%). It is a sector that has an average year-on-year growth in values of around 5%. 56% of tourists who choose campsites are Catalan (41.6% of overnight stays), 36% are foreigners (50.9% of overnight stays) and 8% are from the rest of Spain. Catalan campsites have revenue volumes that exceed 500 million euros and the average economic profitability is 8.44% (netly above the 6.4% of the Catalan business average).
The authors of the study, Bim Consultors, explain that the evolution of the price index has experienced a clear upward trend, of 20.62% in ten years. However, this increase places a negative growth in prices. If the CPI adjustment is applied during this period, it is 22.6%. There is a real stagnation of sales prices in camping and bungalow rates. Bim Consultors adds that "it is an inflationary sector, contrary to what is normally assumed about the tourism sector."
The Catalan campsites are celebrating today, Thursday and tomorrow at the Vilanova Park in Vilanova i la Geltrú, one of the most prominent in Europe, their first congress under the motto Modeling a greener future. The aim is to "claim the specific weight of the sector in tourism and the economy, further unite the campsites throughout the territory and promote the global brand Campings de Catalunya."
The meeting, organized by the FCC in collaboration with the Generalitat and the Barcelona Provincial Council, coincides with the 70 years of history of a sector that, they assure, “is a key economic engine for the country and a pioneer in its commitment to sustainability and “the constant improvement of water resources management”. Its adaptation to climate change and the sustainable development of the sector in the current context of the need to improve water management will be the common thread of the meeting.
Campsites apply measures such as drip irrigation for gardening, control of laundry systems, reduction in water pressure, reuse of shower water for toilets or actions in swimming pools such as the first acquisitions of mobile desalination plants. , in which campsites from Lloret and Tossa de Mar participate. For years, establishments such as El Delfín Verde in Torroella de Montgrí have had their own desalination plant and have made “significant efforts towards energy self-sufficient establishments with zero use of fossil fuels for their operation.” . Among other actions, solar panels have been installed in bungalows or common elements and geothermal and biomass boilers have been incorporated for water heating and heating.
