The picture is deceptive: on the day reserved for the press, it was still the quietest in the Caravan Salon. But 8100 VIP tickets had been sold with a surcharge of 20 euros. Regular admission costs 16 euros.
Build: Marcus Simaitis
Take your holiday happiness into your own hands, whatever the cost: the 61st Caravan Salon continued the trade fair’s success story. 235,000 visitors came to see the manufacturers’ expensive new products.
Es is a success story. In 1962 no one would have believed how this exhibition would develop over the next 60 years. A few dozen manufacturers gathered in the halls of Messe Essen for the Caravan Salon to show their caravans and tents to the interested public. Caravanning was on the rise and was popular, and inexpensive caravans were in demand for beginners who liked to pull their house on wheels behind their panting breath across the Alps to Italy. The new trade fair was an immediate success because, unlike the previous IAA in Frankfurt, visitors to the salon were able to implement their wishes quickly: the salespeople on the stands were just waiting to nimbly pull out their order books and sign contracts. The usual trade fair discount helped many customers over the price hurdle.
In 1993 the Caravan Salon moved to Düsseldorf for reasons of space. The Essen halls could no longer cope with the increasing number of exhibitors. While only 34,500 visitors came to the first exhibitions, the trade fair under the new roofs achieved one visitor record after the other. In 2019, the organizers counted more than 270,000 guests. The corona pandemic did not slow down the industry either, on the contrary. Camping is considered chic, sustainable and hygienically impeccable. Sales have gone through the roof over the past eight years. However, delivery difficulties and sharply rising prices are now dampening the mood. Beforehand, the number of visitors on the first weekend of the trade fair was viewed with concern, as is traditionally an indicator of the success of the exhibition.