Camping Trade World – Issue 11

DOING BUSINESS WITH... SPAIN
S
■pain could easily stake a
claim to the title of king
of tourism in Europe. The
country has long been a favourite
destination for holidaymakers
around the continent thanks to
its warm climate, well-established
beach resorts, and fantastic food
and drink options. But away
from the all-inclusive resorts and
the 18-30 holidays, Spain has
a very well established tourism
industry based around camping
and caravanning too. Campsites
around the country have thrived
in recent years, as have dealers,
suppliers, and manufacturers who
supply tourists with motorhomes
and caravans. There is a very
strong rental market in Spain,
with many tourists taking flydrive
motorhome holidays in the
country. Besides tourism, Spain is
also well-known for its automotive
manufacturing industry, and this
extends to several well-known
names in the RV industry, such
as IVECO, Benimar, and Ilusion
Caravaning. Times have been
good for the market in Spain
over the last decade – the country
followed the same trend as most
of the rest of Europe with RVing
becoming ever popular up until
the COVID-19 pandemic at the
start of 2020. Spain had some
very tough lockdown rules, which
hindered the industry for a time,
but since things have relaxed, it
has begun to take off once again.
At present however, the market
has begun to stall thanks to the
problems that practically all
markets are facing: chassis supply,
lack of stock, and vastly increased
interest due to the return of large
fairs and events such as Caravan
Salon Düsseldorf and Salone del
Camper in Parma, Italy.
In September, the latest
motorhome and camper
registration figures from Spain’s
industry association ASEICAR
showed a 27.6 per cent fall
compared to the same month in
2021. Towable caravans suffered
ABOUT ASEICAR
Spain has a very strong industry association called the
Asociación Española de la Industria y Comercio del
Caravaning (ASEICAR), which protects and promotes the
interests of manufacturers, dealers, renters, campsites and
more who all make their living from the leisure vehicle
industry. It was founded in 1988 and permanently analyses
the economic activity of the sector in Spain in order to
propose solutions to improve the market in general. It is a
great source of information and news about the latest state
of the caravanning market in Spain.
Learn more online at www.aseicar.org
an even larger year-by-year drop of
around 30 per cent. Despite these
troubles, the second hand market
in Spain seems to be receiving a
boost as anxious buyers seek to
secure a camper any way they can.
Second hand caravan sales for
September 2022 stood at 575 and
motorhomes at 1,489. ASEICAR
estimates that the average price
of a second hand motorhome has
increased anywhere between 20
and 30 per cent in recent months
and claims that buyers do not
want to wait a year to have a
€60,000 motorhome delivered but
would rather spend €50,000 on
one that is a few years old simply
to get it now. In general, these
issues alongside the rising costs of
fuel, food and other amenities in
Spain mean that the RV market
is facing a period of uncertainty.
ASEICAR president José Manuel
Jurado said: “This uncertainty is
punctual. We trust that, when the
war in Ukraine, the lack of product
and the doubts in the national
and international economy are
overcome, the trend of the sector
will recover the path of growth
since we do detect that there is a
lot of interest among citizens in
general in discovering caravanning
and among future buyers in
being able to enjoy it as soon as
possible.”
The challenge for Spain, as with
many other European nations, is
to try and maintain the level of
interest and demand the market
is currently experiencing with
limited stock to fulfil it – perhaps
the importance of rental and
ownership sharing models could
come to the fore?
FACT FILE
Capital: Madrid
Population: 47,100,000
Dialling code: +34
Prime Minister:
Pedro Sánchez
Official languages:
Spanish
Time zones:
UTC+1
Currency: Euro
Internet domain: .es
ECONOMY IN FOCUS
$2.2 trillion
GDP (USD)
$46,500
GPD per capita (USD)
4.3%
GDP growth
13.5%
unemployment
TOP IMPORT PARTNERS:
Germany
France
China
Italy
Netherlands
TOP EXPORT PARTNERS:
France
Germany
Italy
Portugal
UK
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