The number of bookings has increased sharply over the past week at camping giant First Camp.
Sales have been the best ever so far, says CEO Johan Söör.
Last year, First Camp expected a record year, but after a rainy summer, it ended with a two percent decline. However, this year looks more promising.
Last week, online sales took off and increased by 35 percent compared to the same period last year. And it's mainly campsites that have been booked.
It's unusual to have such an extreme increase with such short notice, continues Johan Söör.
Normal summer weather
He believes that the bad weather last year is the reason why guests are booking so late this year.
Now that we've seen more normal summer weather, I think many have made a decision and waited until the last minute.
Lena Kempe, CEO of Daftö Resort in Bohuslän, reports that their visitors have also booked later this year. However, they don't see as large an increase as First Camp does.
The start of the summer was a bit weaker than last year. But the booking situation ahead looks good, and we expect a strong finish to the summer, she says.
So we'll probably see a small increase this year.
"Record year"
First Camp is Scandinavia's largest camping concern, with around 50 destinations and approximately 3,000 cottages in Sweden. According to Johan Söör, they have had strong sales throughout the summer, but it has gone particularly well recently.
We're heading for a record year in bookings, and we saw last month that we would have our best year ever.
It's both Swedish and foreign guests who are behind the increase. From abroad, it's mainly Germans and Norwegians who are coming.
25 percent price increase
Johan Söör believes that the reason for the increase is partly due to the weakened krona, but also due to climate change.
Tourist flows are increasingly heading towards Northern Europe. And Swedish guests are choosing to stay at home instead of traveling to 40-degree temperatures in the Mediterranean.
According to figures from the Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, it has become significantly more expensive to camp in Sweden – over five years, it has increased by approximately 25 percent. However, the industry organization SCR Swedish Camping says that it's due to general price increases.
It follows the general price development in society. Sweden is still one of the absolutely cheapest camping countries in Europe, says Martin Juhos, CEO of Swedish Camping.
The latest survey from the German motor organization Adac, which compares prices between major camping destinations in Europe, showed that Sweden was the second cheapest country to camp in.
