Skyrocketing interest in campers due to chaos at Dutch airports

Chaos at Schiphol and other airports has led to Netherlands residents rediscovering camping, according to the online marketplace Marktplaats. In the past six months, Marktplaats had 8.6 million searches for a motorhome and almost 5.5 million for a caravan, an increase of 56 percent compared to the same period last year.

Roof boxes are also a lot more popular this year, with searches more than doubling from 545,000 in the first half of 2021 to 1.2 million in the same period this year. The number of searchers for a tent increased from 742,000 to 881,000. And Netherlands residents searched for a folding trailer over 1.1 million times.

According to Marktplaats, Netherlands residents' current interests are almost immediately reflected on its site. "It is striking that the increase in interest in motorhomes and caravans coincides with the unrest and chaos in the aviation sector and the increase in the number of coronavirus infections in the Netherlands," the marketplace said.

Schiphol has been dealing with long lines almost daily since the start of the May vacation due to staff shortages in security and baggage handling. The airport had to cut capacity by over 13,000 passengers per day for the entire month of July. Eindhoven Airport has also been struggling with lines in recent weeks.