There were 23,200 campsites in the EU in 2018, the vast majority of which were located in rural areas (68%) or towns and suburbs (26%), while 6% of campsites were located in cities, according to a new report published on Thursday by Eurostat.
More than two thirds of EU campsites (70%) were in just four EU Member States: France (35% of EU’s campsites), Germany (13%), the Netherlands (12%) and Italy (10%).
Visitors spent a total of 352 million nights in EU campsites in 2018, accounting for 13% of all nights spent in tourist accommodation within the EU.
In Cyprus, visitors spent 2,312 nights on camping grounds, recreational vehicle parks and trailer parks in 2018, more than a 50% drop compared to 2017’s 5,088 nights.
In 2018, the number of nights spent in campsites across the EU in August (31%) and July (27%) together accounted for more than half of the annual total. June (11%), May and September (both 9%) were also popular months for camping.
Among the EU Member States, the highest proportions of tourist nights spent in campsites in 2018 were recorded in Denmark and Luxembourg (both 33% of all nights spent in tourist accommodation in the country), France (28%) and Sweden (26%).
In absolute numbers, France recorded the highest number of tourist nights spent in campsites in 2018, with 35% of all nights spent in campsites in the EU, followed by Italy (16%), Spain (11%) and Germany (10%).
Among EUÂ regions, Languedoc-Roussillon on the border of the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean Sea recorded the highest proportion of tourist nights spent in campsites (59% of all nights spent in tourist accommodation in the region) in 2018. Loire Region in France also recorded over half of nights spent in campsites (51%), followed by three further French regions: Brittany (50%), Aquitaine (49%) and Poitou-Charentes (48%), and three Danish regions: Zealand, Central Jutland and South Denmark (all 48%).
Other EU regions where camping was relatively important were the Scandinavian countries as well as the Adriatic basin.
