Munich Camping & Outdoor Days: What are the new camping trends – Starnberg

Among the tents that can be seen at the Pilsensee campsite this weekend, one stands out in particular. The grey, inflatable tent belongs to Markus Bauer, who here represents Quipon, a private label of outdoor wholesaler Movera. As it stands here, the almost four meter high tent can be seen for the first time. The company from Upper Swabia is showing the first production model at the open air fair. The price: 5799 euros.

Strictly speaking, the model is just the outer tent, explains Bauer. Underneath is a VW bus, on which a foldable roof tent is mounted, which in turn is connected to the outer tent. Pretty complicated? Bauer waves it away. You only have to unfold it, with a compression pump it can be set up in ten minutes. The inner tent is then automatically set up when the air columns of the outer tent are filled. Bauer promises: “Anyone can do that.”

The interest in camping equipment has increased significantly in recent years

The roof tent is just one of many innovations that will be on display at the “Munich Camping & Outdoor Days” at Pilsensee. Until May 8th, more than thirty exhibitors from all over Germany are represented at the campsite near Seefeld and show not only large caravans and mobile homes, but also tents and camping accessories.

With the open-air fair, the organizers are reacting to the sharp increase in interest in camping equipment in recent years. They are expecting up to 7,000 visitors at the weekend. “Due to the pandemic, many people also came to camp,” explains Peter Draeger, one of the organizers. The exhibitors present did good business. Draeger does not believe that demand will ebb once the pandemic ends. “Certainly it won’t always go up steeply,” he admits. “It will probably level off at a high level on a plateau.”

So far, Draeger has organized regular vanlife meetings where experienced campers come together for a whole weekend to network. With the trade fair at Pilsensee, he now wants to create an offer for day visitors and curious newcomers who want to find out more. Therefore, not only exhibitors are represented at the fair, there is also a large supporting program with discussion rounds and lectures by experts for this purpose. These so-called panels should, among other things, deal with the question of what is new on the market this year and what will be the next trend.

Dirk Langenfeld from the tent retailer Camp Nation has a clear answer: air tents. “They’ve been around for a few years, but now they’re also hitting the market,” says Langenfeld. He has set up 60 tents on the camping site, from simple models to larger family tents to particularly large, elegant models, everything is included. Most of Dirk Langenfeld’s tents do not require any poles at all. The big advantage of the air tube tents: They can be set up particularly quickly and easily. “With a hand pump, like those used in kite surfing, you can inflate a tent like this in five to six minutes,” explains Langenfeld. In terms of price, the first models in the family tent range start at 500 euros, the highest quality models sometimes cost up to 3500 euros. The latter consist of a cotton blend fabric, Langenfeld speaks of so-called glamping – a neologism made up of the terms camping and glamour.

Has the war in Ukraine influenced people’s travel habits?

Last but not least, the question of whether the war in Ukraine will have an impact on people’s travel behavior looms over the trade fair – after all, the Russian attack is driving up fuel prices and also affecting purchasing power in Germany. “In general, everyone who is exhibiting here has long delivery times, the industry is doing very well,” explains Draeger. Like most exhibitors, he doesn’t expect the war to have too much of an impact on interest in the camping market. “But that also depends on how long the war lasts,” says Draeger.

If you continue on the campsite, the next eye-catcher comes quickly: a large, matt gray service vehicle reminiscent of US models. It was built from scratch by the team around Torsten Schwengber from TS Buscamp, a manufacturer of camping vehicles from Thuringia. “Thousands of hand-hammered rivets are processed in it,” explains the managing director. It is not initially for sale, at the fair beer is to be served from the car.

Open detailed view

Next to it is the flagship model from TS Buscamp: a dark red Fiat Ducato with a two-meter panoramic window. “It always bothered me that you can’t move around in a camper for two,” says Schwengber. The expanded Fiat is his answer. His company has significantly lowered the floor of this model, so there is more headroom and it is easier to get in, and the car looks more spacious overall. In addition to the large panoramic window, the equipment includes an automatic, two-metre-long drop-down bed, a fold-out space-saving shower, an extra-wide door and a table specially made for the model. The price: 119,500 euros.

If you don’t know that much about camping and want to slowly get to grips with the topic, it’s best to go to the site on Saturday. “On Saturday we have a beginners’ day,” explains organizer Peter Draeger. The presence of Markus Wolf, a well-known face among campers, will be special on this day. He runs the blog “Fan4Van” and wrote the book “How To Womo” – a guide in which he explains to beginners everything they need to know about mobile travel. His lecture for beginners on Saturday will also be about things worth knowing about traveling with a mobile home. Wolf will also be available to answer questions throughout the day after the lecture.

The fair (Am Pilsensee 2, 82229 Seefeld) is open Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free. Childcare is also taken care of.