Lace up your shoes, pack your card and off you go. The desire to hike has increased during the pandemic, and popular trails are very popular. Are the numbers going down after the corona restrictions? Not necessarily, says the association. Because the next crisis is coming up.
Fellbach (dpa/lsw) - From the point of view of the German Hiking Association, hiking could remain a kind of crisis winner even after the corona pandemic. Environmental awareness, growing concerns about the climate and, above all, rising prices will increasingly lure people into nature and make hiking even more popular as a leisure trend, said the President of the German Hiking Association, Hans-Ulrich Rauchfuss, the German Press Agency (dpa). . "There is a tendency that people want to go back to nature, that they are looking for balance and diversity," he explained a few weeks before the start of the German Hiking Day in Remstal in Württemberg (3rd to 7th August). Rauchfuss was convinced that the number of hikers, which had risen sharply as a result of the pandemic, would remain at a high level even without the corona restrictions.
According to Rauchfuss, the price of petrol in particular could convince people to go hiking. "If petrol not only costs two euros, but goes even higher, then many people will consider whether to travel far," said Rauchfuss. "Then they choose their destinations at home, and that's what we promote." It is also important to protect the climate and limit emissions. "And that's where the extraordinarily environmentally and climate-friendly hiking has an effect, especially when people stay inland and take buses and trains to get there."
However, the enthusiasm is not reflected in the membership figures of the hiking clubs. "If you extrapolate, over 50 million people in Germany like to hike in their free time," said Rauchfuss. "But our area chapters have an estimated membership of only 500,000." The pandemic hit the groups hard, many people hiked alone. "Now we have to make sure that we win these hikers over again," said Rauchfuss. Arguments for a club are the trained hiking guides, the knowledgeable tours and the social experience on the way. However, the increasingly certified hiking trails and the countless suggestions and navigation aids described in great detail on the Internet do not play into the clubs' cards.
The hiking president also has hopes for the 121st German Hiking Day, the world's largest hiking event, which will be organized from August 3rd to 7th in the Remstal east of Stuttgart. Overall, the Swabian Alb Association and the German Hiking Association had expected around 30,000 people on the trails in the region last summer. Rauchfuss did not want to commit to a number, but emphasized the advantage of the Remstal's location in one of the largest local transport areas. "And with the 9-euro ticket you can even come from Hamburg by bus and train," said Rauchfuss.
More than 200 hikes, tours and city tours of the Albverein are planned, including evening wine walks, hikes to legendary places, "Bike and Hike" as well as children's days, a "Night of the Bakery Houses" and topics such as "Art and Wine". "Hiking day capital" and thus the center is the town of Fellbach at the foot of the 470 meter high Kappelberg. The organizers want to present details on July 14 (10:00) in Fellbach.
For more than 120 years, the German Hiking Association, together with a member association and regional partners, has been inviting people to explore a hiking region in Germany. At the hiking day in Bad Wildungen in northern Hesse, only around 3,000 hikers were counted last year due to the severe corona restrictions. The year before, the event had to be postponed due to the pandemic.
