24
de Març
de
2016 - 11:09
Camp sites want to be fashionable. They want to be on the list of options, they want to attract local and foreign holidaymakers, and they want to show that they are not only a type of accommodation, but that taking to the open road with a car and caravan is the start of a whole experience. That is the argument from the president of the Associació de Càmpings de Girona, Miquel Gotanegra, who can say he speaks for the sector recognised for its professionalism.
In January, 18 Catalan camp sites were among the best in Europe in the Best Camping 2016 awards and nine of them are in Girona. However, Gotanegra points to the fact, not that half of them belong to the association he heads, but that the recognition came from two automobile associations, the German ADAC and the Dutch ANWB. "That means it is the visitors themselves who chose us," he says proudly, and goes on to say that, unlike the usual evaluation from an inspector, this recognition is an important boost to their reputation.
However, what is it that has caused camp sites, and particularly those in Girona, to make such an impression? Frederic Suñé is clear about the answer: "Choosing the path of investment and adapting to new market trends." Suñé is the manager of Las Dunas camp site, twice distinguished by Best Camping 2016 and DCC Europa-Preis de Platí, from the main German caravanning club. They are two awards that reward the camp site's almost 50 years of activity in Sant Pere Pescador (Alt Empordà).
Investing in excellence
Swimming pools with slides, spas, water tours, chalets, internet connection or improved plots, are all innovations Suñé lists in reference to adapting to new trends. They provide added value, small details that makes a holidaymaker choose Las Dunas over another camp site. "It is about improving the facilities and assuring the service is excellent," says the manager.
Moreover, a good staff is also required. In this area, Las Dunas has chosen to provide continuous training for its workers, as well as taking on the same people every year: "We keep the spine, even in high season, when there are another 300 of us." The reason is so that the holidaymakers, if they come back, will find the same faces they know from previous years, of those people who helped make their stay more enjoyable.
For Gotanegra, all of this shows the "readiness of Girona camp sites to be permanently up-to-date." He thinks that the formula is due to constant business investment, but also the commitment by teams to demand quality from themselves. "A coffee does not have the same taste when it is served well as when it is not, even if it is made from the same ingredients and comes out of the same cafeteria," he says.
Easter, time for crossed fingers
For Las Dunas camp site, the number of clients begins to rise in May and does not stop until September, with a significant peak between July 20 and August 15, when there are around 4,500 visitors. It is a period that is a long way away from Easter. "There is still a crisis and people notice it," says Suñé, who has seen how the long weekend between Easter Friday and Monday has become "increasingly short" because people "want to be at home on Monday."
Although this period is not so important for them, Suñé says that other colleagues in the sector see a rise in activity at this time. This is the case of the Lava camp site, in Santa Pau (Garrotxa), which opened in 1992 with the idea of introducing the ecology movement into tourism.
the facilities are located in the Parc Natural de la Zona Volcànica de la Garrotxa, where walking, cycling or horse riding in the Fageda d'en Jordà and the volcanoes are some of the star activities on offer. Thus, it is understandable that this holiday and the arrival of spring means a rise in activity for them.
Yet, this year they have a handicap: "Easter has come too soon." It is not so much a complaint, as a pointed observation by the camp site manager, Joan Masoliver, who believes that this will cause them to suffer "a loss" because "it does not run into the summer". "We are now hoping the weather is good; if it rains a lot, it will not help us," he adds.
In this case, it is a camp site for short stays, of between one and three nights. "We are an option for those who want to rest and relax," says Masoliver. "We have clients who have been coming since we opened and they come back because they like the way we treat them, our way of working and our philosophy." That makes it a good option for those looking for sporadic rural breaks, a characteristic they can take advantage of, when for those on the coast it is still low season.
Providers of experiences
If there is one thing that makes Girona camp sites stand out, it is that they offer more than just a place to sleep. "A camp site is not just accommodation, it is a unique and different experience, another way of doing holidays," argues the president of the association, who attributes the rise in popularity of camp sites to the need of tourists to explore options they have not looked at before.
To take advantage of this, the organisation has brought out the first camp site guide by experience. "People love to move around and try new things, which is why we have identified how each place is different, which is nothing less than specialisation," Gotanegra summarises. The aim is to turn this product into a promotion tool and to publicise perspectives that go "beyond tents and include chalets, leisure, entertainment or sport." "A small camp site has a greater volume of clients than a large hotel and it can allow itself the luxury of having teams ready to offer activities according to age," he insists, "because we are no longer providers of accommodation, we are holiday creators."
The case of Lava is an illustrative example of what the guide contains. Being an ecological camp site means having activities that respect the environment, which means good habits on an internal scale, such as the use of low-energy light bulbs or showers that use less water, and on the level of the user, basic practices such as recycling or limiting car use. "When we opened, environmental issues and not damaging or destroying the planet were being talked about, but no one had a vision, and less so in a camp site," recalls Masoliver about the site's beginnings, when they designed an infrastructure that is 100% integrated into the surrounding landscape: green and black, the colours of the woods and the volcanoes.
Nature, family, mountain or relaxation. Lava is to be found in any of these four categories out of the 12 there are in the filter on the website of the Camping Experience guide.
Family holidays
There is a popular belief that camping is a cheap option for holidays, perhaps due to the image of the motor home or car and caravan combo, which provides transport and accommodation. But according to Suñé, "it is a myth."
"People do not choose a camp site because of its price, but because they like tranquillity and nature, the family atmosphere, the social component...," he says in a tone that makes it clear the list is much longer. For his part, Masoliver summarises the advantage with a single label: "It is a premium service." A service that families in particular are looking for because they know they will find good activities for their children, whatever their age. "If the kids are happy, so are the parents," adds the manager of Lava.
As for where clients come from, in the case of the Santa Pau camp site, most are Catalans, followed by Spaniards, French, Dutch and Germans, all for short stays. However, for the Sant Pere Pescador site, most of the clients are from central Europe, who come by car and spend a fortnight. It is an overview that the president of the Associació de Càmpings de Girona confirms: "This style of holiday is typical in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and other countries in that area. More than 25% of them who go abroad in the summer opt for this." It is a trend that is not seen in Spain, but one they want to encourage with initiatives like the Càmping Experience or the Girocamping fair.
Until now, with a concentration of activity in the summer months and with foreign clients, the Las Dunas camp site estimates that it represents 41% of municipal GDP on the coast. If they can manage to increase the numbers and extend the summer holiday period, imagine what the result would be?
In January, 18 Catalan camp sites were among the best in Europe in the Best Camping 2016 awards and nine of them are in Girona. However, Gotanegra points to the fact, not that half of them belong to the association he heads, but that the recognition came from two automobile associations, the German ADAC and the Dutch ANWB. "That means it is the visitors themselves who chose us," he says proudly, and goes on to say that, unlike the usual evaluation from an inspector, this recognition is an important boost to their reputation.
However, what is it that has caused camp sites, and particularly those in Girona, to make such an impression? Frederic Suñé is clear about the answer: "Choosing the path of investment and adapting to new market trends." Suñé is the manager of Las Dunas camp site, twice distinguished by Best Camping 2016 and DCC Europa-Preis de Platí, from the main German caravanning club. They are two awards that reward the camp site's almost 50 years of activity in Sant Pere Pescador (Alt Empordà).
Investing in excellence
Swimming pools with slides, spas, water tours, chalets, internet connection or improved plots, are all innovations Suñé lists in reference to adapting to new trends. They provide added value, small details that makes a holidaymaker choose Las Dunas over another camp site. "It is about improving the facilities and assuring the service is excellent," says the manager.
 |
| The camp site in Sant Pere Pescador built a new swimming pool in 2015. Las Dunas |
Moreover, a good staff is also required. In this area, Las Dunas has chosen to provide continuous training for its workers, as well as taking on the same people every year: "We keep the spine, even in high season, when there are another 300 of us." The reason is so that the holidaymakers, if they come back, will find the same faces they know from previous years, of those people who helped make their stay more enjoyable.
For Gotanegra, all of this shows the "readiness of Girona camp sites to be permanently up-to-date." He thinks that the formula is due to constant business investment, but also the commitment by teams to demand quality from themselves. "A coffee does not have the same taste when it is served well as when it is not, even if it is made from the same ingredients and comes out of the same cafeteria," he says.
Easter, time for crossed fingers
For Las Dunas camp site, the number of clients begins to rise in May and does not stop until September, with a significant peak between July 20 and August 15, when there are around 4,500 visitors. It is a period that is a long way away from Easter. "There is still a crisis and people notice it," says Suñé, who has seen how the long weekend between Easter Friday and Monday has become "increasingly short" because people "want to be at home on Monday."
Although this period is not so important for them, Suñé says that other colleagues in the sector see a rise in activity at this time. This is the case of the Lava camp site, in Santa Pau (Garrotxa), which opened in 1992 with the idea of introducing the ecology movement into tourism.
the facilities are located in the Parc Natural de la Zona Volcànica de la Garrotxa, where walking, cycling or horse riding in the Fageda d'en Jordà and the volcanoes are some of the star activities on offer. Thus, it is understandable that this holiday and the arrival of spring means a rise in activity for them.
Yet, this year they have a handicap: "Easter has come too soon." It is not so much a complaint, as a pointed observation by the camp site manager, Joan Masoliver, who believes that this will cause them to suffer "a loss" because "it does not run into the summer". "We are now hoping the weather is good; if it rains a lot, it will not help us," he adds.
In this case, it is a camp site for short stays, of between one and three nights. "We are an option for those who want to rest and relax," says Masoliver. "We have clients who have been coming since we opened and they come back because they like the way we treat them, our way of working and our philosophy." That makes it a good option for those looking for sporadic rural breaks, a characteristic they can take advantage of, when for those on the coast it is still low season.
Providers of experiences
If there is one thing that makes Girona camp sites stand out, it is that they offer more than just a place to sleep. "A camp site is not just accommodation, it is a unique and different experience, another way of doing holidays," argues the president of the association, who attributes the rise in popularity of camp sites to the need of tourists to explore options they have not looked at before.
To take advantage of this, the organisation has brought out the first camp site guide by experience. "People love to move around and try new things, which is why we have identified how each place is different, which is nothing less than specialisation," Gotanegra summarises. The aim is to turn this product into a promotion tool and to publicise perspectives that go "beyond tents and include chalets, leisure, entertainment or sport." "A small camp site has a greater volume of clients than a large hotel and it can allow itself the luxury of having teams ready to offer activities according to age," he insists, "because we are no longer providers of accommodation, we are holiday creators."
The case of Lava is an illustrative example of what the guide contains. Being an ecological camp site means having activities that respect the environment, which means good habits on an internal scale, such as the use of low-energy light bulbs or showers that use less water, and on the level of the user, basic practices such as recycling or limiting car use. "When we opened, environmental issues and not damaging or destroying the planet were being talked about, but no one had a vision, and less so in a camp site," recalls Masoliver about the site's beginnings, when they designed an infrastructure that is 100% integrated into the surrounding landscape: green and black, the colours of the woods and the volcanoes.
 |
| Chalets are an option, but there are also tents and a place for caravans. Lava |
Nature, family, mountain or relaxation. Lava is to be found in any of these four categories out of the 12 there are in the filter on the website of the Camping Experience guide.
Family holidays
There is a popular belief that camping is a cheap option for holidays, perhaps due to the image of the motor home or car and caravan combo, which provides transport and accommodation. But according to Suñé, "it is a myth."
"People do not choose a camp site because of its price, but because they like tranquillity and nature, the family atmosphere, the social component...," he says in a tone that makes it clear the list is much longer. For his part, Masoliver summarises the advantage with a single label: "It is a premium service." A service that families in particular are looking for because they know they will find good activities for their children, whatever their age. "If the kids are happy, so are the parents," adds the manager of Lava.
As for where clients come from, in the case of the Santa Pau camp site, most are Catalans, followed by Spaniards, French, Dutch and Germans, all for short stays. However, for the Sant Pere Pescador site, most of the clients are from central Europe, who come by car and spend a fortnight. It is an overview that the president of the Associació de Càmpings de Girona confirms: "This style of holiday is typical in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and other countries in that area. More than 25% of them who go abroad in the summer opt for this." It is a trend that is not seen in Spain, but one they want to encourage with initiatives like the Càmping Experience or the Girocamping fair.
Until now, with a concentration of activity in the summer months and with foreign clients, the Las Dunas camp site estimates that it represents 41% of municipal GDP on the coast. If they can manage to increase the numbers and extend the summer holiday period, imagine what the result would be?