R
eport
Düsseldorf - ECF annual meeting
The big names met in Düsseldorf The 43rd ECF (European Caravan Federation) Annual General Meeting and the 26th Meeting of the European Leisure Vehicle Industry (MELVI) took place 29 August 2021 during the latest Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf
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he European Leisure Vehicle Industry Meeting (MELVI) takes place annually , traditionally in May. The conference is hosted by a different ECF member every year. This prominent industry event is attended by approximately 150 high level executives from the entire European caravanning industry. The meeting features top-class speakers who talk about current topics relevant to the industry. This year’s MELVI event was hosted by the German ECF Member Caravaning Industrie Verband e. V. (CIVD). After a break in 2020 due to the pandemic, the meeting was successfully held with 120 attendees. The ECF is the umbrella organisation representing the national organisations of the European RV Industry. Membership of the ECF consists of 13 caravanning federations and numerous national members of the caravanning industry within the EU member states. These members are involved in the production, sales and the use of touring caravans,
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motor caravans and mobile homes (known as caravan holiday-homes in the UK) and the supply of specialist parts and services to the industry. “This is the first ECF conference since the corona pandemic unexpectedly hit us all in March 2020. I’m sure nobody would have expected the dramatic impact of the virus on everybody’s life at that time. We have all experienced several lockdowns, something we hadn’t even heard of before. Factories and dealers had to close their doors to protect their workforce, thousands of vehicles could not be produced or delivered. As a result, forecasts needed to be reorganized, and there were supply chain problems which we still have today and will continue in the near future. Travels were forbidden and the borders were closed. Only two and a half caravanning trade shows took place last year. Also, the ECF Melvi meeting in Berlin 2020 and finally Berlin 2021 both felt victim
to the Coronavirus. Today, after one and a half year of ongoing web meetings, we are taking a big step towards normality and I’m very happy that so many of you are here and that we can meet in person again,” said Hermann Pfaff, ECF President when opening the meeting. The sector is in good health Looking at the latest figures available, from January to July 2021, the motorcaravan segment was extraordinarily successful again in 2021, growing by a strong 23%, despite or because of Corona, and reached a new high for the period with 127,734 new registrations. New motorcaravan registrations rose in almost all European countries. In addition to Germany, the largest European market with 57,400 new motorhomes (+13.5%), new records were set in Belgium with 5,230 vehicles (+44.1%), Austria with 3,125 vehicles
