After months of working on the front line in the battle against COVID-19, Spanish nurse Yone Alberich was absolutely ready for a holiday, but the question was how. Going on holiday generally meant flying abroad — but with the virus still very much in the air, she did not want to take a plane.
Nor did Alberich want to stay in a hotel or be around crowds of people. So she and her husband rented a motor home.
“The idea was to keep away from people to avoid getting infected,” said the 32-year-old, who has a toddler and lives in the Valencian coastal town of Castellon. “And with COVID, what could be better than traveling around with your house on your back?”
Photo: AFP
With social distancing the new norm across Europe to avoid any fresh outbreaks, there has been a shift in thinking about holidays, with a recent survey showing 90 percent of Spaniards would remain in Spain rather than traveling abroad.
Eighty-three percent planned to use their own vehicle over public transport.
Fabrizio Muzzati, who runs specialist Spanish travel agency Aquiestoy Caravaning, said that many people who never thought about a motor-home holiday are now considering it.
“At a time when the whole world is very much looking for a sense of security, there are a lot of people who are going to give it a go because of the circumstances,” Muzzati said.
As travel restrictions were eased, motor-home rentals resumed “intensively,” the Spanish mobile home and camper van association ASEICAR said last month, suggesting that it might be “key to reviving tourism this summer.”
It is not just in Spain.
“Since the rollback, there’s been a real craze for motor homes, everywhere,” European Motor-home Federation president Francois Feuillet said. “The motor home means freedom, savings and being green. Now we can add health and safety and for us, that’s a real boon.”
Across Europe, there has been growing interest in the sector and today, there are 5 million users and 2 million vehicles in circulation, industry figures show.
In Germany, Europe’s main market, more than 10,000 new motor homes were registered in May, an increase of 32 percent year-on-year, while France added 3,529 new registrations — up nearly 2 percent.
In Spain, a much smaller market, but where interest is growing rapidly, there were 1,208 new vehicles registered last month — up 20 percent from last year, ASEICAR figures show.
There has also been a jump in demand in the rental market.
Yescapa, a peer-to-peer rental platform, last month registered more than 32,500 bookings across Europe, with requests for this month and next month 60 percent higher than in the same period last year. Of that number, just under one-third — or 9,435 — were in Spain.
Despite the reopening of Europe’s borders on June 15, most people remain reluctant to go abroad, Yescapa cofounder Benoit Panel told reporters.
“Since COVID, there have been almost no cross-booking rentals,” he said, referring to travelers booking outside their country of origin, who usually constitute 20 percent of reservations.
First-time renter Jose Pascal Guiral, who runs a ceramics export business and always holidays abroad, took a motor home as soon as lockdown ended, spending a week touring scenic mountain passes in the Spanish Pyrenees.
“It’s so much nicer than going in a plane or a hotel, it gives you a real sense of freedom. You go for a week and you feel like you’ve been on holiday for a month,” he told reporters.
Julio Barrenengoa Gomez, director of Caravanas Holidays, said the crisis has increased interest in national tourism.
“People tend to want a motor home to travel around Europe, but this year, they’re looking to stay here in Spain,” he told reporters. “With all our desire to visit Europe, it seems like we’ve forgotten just how beautiful Spain is. This year is going to boost national tourism.”
Others believe the health crisis would accelerate a shift away from the mass tourism of resorts, cruises and package holidays.
“This pandemic will change people’s habits, because they’ll be less likely to stay in crowded places,” said Fernando Ortiz, director of established Spanish motor-home brand Benimar.
“Not necessarily because of the risk — they will find a vaccine — but because people like being able to change their plans from moment to moment while traveling,” he said. “And that is likely to last.”
Manon Billing contributed reporting from Paris
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