Whatever the weather, the Dutch are well-known for their love of camping, but a new report has shown just how much. According to the Kampeer en Caravan Industrie (KCI), using figures from Eurostat, the Netherlands has almost the highest number of campsites per person in the continent. 

France has the most campsites in Europe; Croatia the most per capita

While France may be the winner on total number of campsites - clocking in 8.100 campsites, or 120 per 1 million inhabitants - Croatia comes out on top when it comes to number of campsites per person, with 870 per million. In second place is the Netherlands, with 151 campsites per 1 million inhabitants (2.681 campsites overall). 

The figures are much lower for popular camping destinations like Germany (38 campsites per 1 million inhabitants), Italy (39) and Spain (28). The Netherlands even outperforms Italy and Spain on the total number of campsites, with 400 more than Italy and twice as many as Spain! 

According to Eurostat figures from 2018, more than 70 percent of Europe’s 23.200 campsites are located in just four member states: France (35 percent), Germany (13 percent), the Netherlands (12 percent) and Italy (10 percent). 

Camping an integral part of Dutch culture

According to KCI chairperson Leo Diepemaat, “These statistics prove once again that camping is an inseparable part of Dutch culture… Just like with cycling, for example, camping is much more popular than in our direct neighbouring countries and even more popular than in southern Europe.”

KCI statistics show that camping is on the rise in the Netherlands, with a record 618.000 caravans and campervans now registered in the country, 11.000 more than there were a year ago.