A study based on 7,500 interviews and commissioned by the German Hiking Association estimates the country’s nearly 40 million hikes spend €3.7 billion a year on gear.


The “Hiking: A Market with a Bright Future” study  provides reliable data and facts on the hiking market. The study’s key result is that 39.8 million Germans, or 56% of all respondents, rated themselves as “active hikers.”

 

“This means that hiking is Germany’s favourite outdoor activity,” says Dr. Hans-Ulrich Rauchfuss, chairman of the German Hiking Association. The popularity of mountain recreational activities is also reflected by the large numbers of members in the German Alpine Association.

 

“Over the past few decades, weve seen a steady increase in membership. With roughly 37,000 new members – that’s a growth rate of 4.57 per cent – in 2009 weve even registered the largest increase in the history of the German Alpine Association”, says Thomas Bucher, head of press and media contacts at the German Alpine Association.

There are often no clear-cut boundaries between the individual disciplines of walking, hiking and mountain climbing. But one thing is crystal clear: “Outdoor activities have become mainstream in today’s society”, says Klaus Wellmann, CEO of Messe Friedrichshafen, which has hosted the OutDoor show on the shores of Lake Constance since 1994. The next show will be held July 15-18, 2010.


“Hikers are by far the largest target group for Deuter. This means that hiking backpacks are the largest product group in our collection”, says CEO Bernd Kullmann.


According to the study conducted by the German Hiking Association, the most popular pieces of equipment include jackets (92%), followed by day packs (80%), hiking boots (72%), sleeping bags (62%) and hiking maps (58%). No matter what product hikers purchase, the key criterion for outdoor gear is the right combination of quality and functionality.

The study estimates that hikers spend an average of 92 euros a year on equipment. By taking this figure and extrapolating it to all hikers in Germany, researchers concluded that Germany currently has an annual total market volume of €3.7 billion. This amount does not include expenditures made by the rest of the population for outdoor equipment.


A total of 7,500 interviews were conducted for the “Hiking: A Market with a Bright Future” study, which was initiated by the German Hiking Association and supervised by the European Tourism Institute at the University of Trier.