Figures: Dutch people massively buy RVs, but who exactly buys them?

August 19, 2022

Motorhomes are popular

The Netherlands is a camping country. 1 in 9 households has a caravan or motorhome. In total, we have about 425,000 caravans. Campers are also loved by the Dutch. A total of 167,471 motor homes are registered in the Netherlands. A record level. Especially in the last 2.5 years it has gone fast and 40,000 motorhomes have been added in the Netherlands. This is evident from figures provided by BOVAG. On January 1, 2020, there were “only” 128,261 motor homes registered.

Who buys them?

The camper has a somewhat stuffy, pensionado image, but it is mostly young people and young families who have discovered the camper in recent years. A total of 20,000 motor homes in the Netherlands are now owned by people between the ages of 18 and 45. 2.5 years ago, this number was 12,000.

In 2021, there were 6,899 individuals aged 45 or younger who purchased an RV, up from 4,815 the year before. By the way, these are used RVs. These are more attractively priced for young people than brand new motor homes. A used, decent motorhome is available from around 15,000 euros. The prices of most new motorhomes are between 60,000 and 170,000 euros. The most expensive RV in the Netherlands was sold in July 2022 for 949,000 euros.

Motorhome companies

RVs, like passenger cars, are currently in short supply, yet more and more entrepreneurs are getting into the RV business. The number of businesses registered with the KVK that deal with RVs has increased by 78% since 2017 from: 470 to 836. These are not only dealers, but also companies engaged in the rental and repair of motor homes.

Number of enterprises operating in the motorhome industry by province (2017-2022)
Source: KVK

Gelderland or North Brabant

Those who want to have a lot of choice when picking a motorhome should go to Gelderland or North Brabant. That’s where by far the most RV businesses are, according to figures from the Chamber of Commerce. 34% of the RV companies in our country are found in Gelderland and North Brabant. These counties combined have 291 businesses that do something with RVs.