Probably most of you, dear guests, will not have spent New Year's Eve at a LeadingCamping. This is a pity, because we always enjoyed celebrating with you in all the other years! Now we hope, that you had a good turn of the year and we wish you a healthy New Year. It is rare to be so glad, that the old year is over. However, the new one has not started much differently: all of us are still fighting together against the pandemic and its effects. We hope for warmer temperatures in spring, the following reawakening of outdoor life and also in progressive vaccinations. While we are writing this newsletter, it is pretty unclear when exactly which countries can be visited again, when which campsites will open, whether only for national or also for international guests. Please follow the news on our website and our social media channels. We have been preparing for so long and are looking forward to your visit in 2021! This year we will welcome you at 36 locations in an unchanged 11 countries in Europe.

LeadingsClub

Welcome in the LeadingClub! Each month there is a lucky winner of a "feel good camping week" at a different campsite amongst the club members. The winner of the LeadingCamping week of December 2020 is Henning S. from Solingen. He may look forward to having a treat at the La Marina Resort in Spain  Have a look what this campsite has to offer at www.lamarinaresort.com The LeadingCard is the entrée into the LeadingsClub. The most popular benefits at a glance:

1. Every month a raffle of a full week's stay at one of the LeadingCampings, restaurant meals, wellness, sports and fun included.
2. Late check-out and pitch upgrade*
3. Preferential reception and/or reserved counter for LeadingsClub.*
4. Benefits and privileges on every LeadingCamping for club members, including overnight stays for bonus points (not on all LeadingCampings).*
5. Reserved space in leadingcampings.com website where you can control your point account, find current offers and much more interesting information.
   

* Examples of the various LeadingsClub. Offers can vary from campsite to campsite and are not available at every LeadingCamping.

Campsite Award

The first camping prize of the year is the Campsite Award 2021. Every year, readers of the magazines ‘Reisemobil International’, ‘Camper Vans’, ‘Camping, Cars & Caravans’, ‘Abenteuer Camping’ and users of the platform ‘campanio’ choose the winners out of a pre-sorted list. And as every year, a few LeadingCampings are among the highest placed. There are ten categories, some of the them even with up to eight subcategories, which does not make the ballot clearer. The CaravanPark Sexten could reach one of the top three in 6 categories, Südsee-Camp and Wulfener Hals in five categories and the Wirthshof in the animation for adults. Congratulations - so the year has started already very motivating even for campsites in the lockdown!

Camping Gala no. 1

This year, the Dutch Automobile Club ANWB has held its Camping Gala as virtual event due to Covid-19 restrictions. On January 13^th, it took place online instead of during the Vakantiebeurs in Utrecht. The highlight was eagerly awaited: the announcement of the "Camping van het Jaar". As the best Dutch family camping was chosen Camping De Paal in Bergeijk - as several times in previous years. We are very happy with the family Martens. In a very interesting contribution, Dutch-Italian camping veteran Loek van de Loo was interviewed about changes in camping as a form of leisure and as an offer, about market concentration and about the opportunities of family-run companies with their own vision. Most recently, van de Loo bought Camping De Papillon in Twente and is currently polishing it up as Country Resort Papillon. On the other hand, futurologist Richard van Hooijdonk, had a few provocative theses for his audience. He did not make many friends among the nearly 400 viewers of the livestream with his repeatedly uttered sentence ‘I hate campsites’. Further information:: www.anwb.nl

Camping Gala no. 2

Also Stuttgart is situated on the internet - the ADAC Camping Gala, which has been held for years at the venue of the CMT trade fair, now also had to be put on as a virtual format and was streamed on January 19^th. The greatest excitement was the announcement of the winners of this year's ADAC Camping Awards. Nominees in the category "Sustainability and Environmental Awareness" were LeadingCampings Wirthshof from Germany and De Wildhoeve from the Netherlands. In the category "Online Marketing and Digitalization", LeadingCamping- und Ferienpark Wulfener Hals, Germany was nominated. Meanwhile, the highlight of the evening was the introduction of long-time BVCD president and camping visionary Anton Harms into the Hall of Fame. Last year's honoree, Dutch-Italian camping entrepreneur Loek van de Loo, emphasised in his laudation the unifying personality and far-sightedness of the long-time managing director of Alfsee Ferien- und Erlebnispark: "After all, he is a man who has decisively influenced and accompanied the development of camping in his home country and in Europe. A man who was and is always interested in developing the market together with others - including competitors." Van de Loo paid special tribute to Harms' commitment to politics as well as his services during his many years as president of the BVCD (Federal Association of the Camping Industry in Germany). Our picture shows Anton Harms on the right next to the current BVCD President Dr. Gunter Riechey.Further information: www.pincamp.de

Vouchers

Have you got a voucher in 2020 for an overnight during the low season? There was e.g. a special campaign of Intercaravaning merchandisers and an event on the occasion of the Dometic comfort weeks. All of these vouchers are valid for one year starting from the issue date. A voucher of 1^st of May 2020 is valid until 30^st of April 2021. After that date our member campsites don’t accept them anymore. However, we have decided to prolong all of them until 31^st of December 2021 independent from the date of issue. After all, it is not your fault, that our campsites are unreachable in autumn, winter and for the time being in early springtime 2021. In addition, we will keep a careful eye on further developments. If the camping year does not go back to normal, as we all hope, we will work on an accommodating solution. However, we will reassess this later in the year and then determine.