More people stayed at German campsites last year than ever before. There were around 40 million overnight stays, around 22 percent more than in the previous year, according to an evaluation by the camping.info portal.

There are two reasons for this boom, said a spokeswoman for the portal on Monday of the German Press Agency. "On the one hand, there is the current trend towards holidays close to nature". On the other hand, the increased numbers are due to the travel restrictions in the corona pandemic. Because many people bought a mobile home back then, for example, and now continue to use it.

According to the evaluation, most overnight stays were in Bavaria with around 7.7 million, an increase of around 25 percent compared to 2021. Lower Saxony follows the Free State with just over 5.7 million overnight stays - almost 19 percent more than in the previous year . Schleswig-Holstein is in third place. In 2022, around 5.5 million people would have stayed at campsites here - an increase of almost 3 percent.

Hamburg and Berlin with strong growth

According to the portal, the strongest percentage increases in camping guests were in other federal states. Around 73 percent more people stayed overnight in Hamburg in 2022 than in 2021, followed by Berlin with an increase of around 70 percent. Saarland completes the top 3 percentage increases with an increase of 63 percent. "The camping boom is still unbroken. In the meantime, popular campsites are no longer only well booked in the high season or during the holiday periods," said Maximilian Möhrle, managing director of the camping portal, according to a statement.

According to the information, the number of so-called leisure vehicles also increased, including motorhomes and caravans. According to this, almost 1.6 million of these vehicles were registered in 2022, around 1.5 million in 2021 and just under one million in 2015.