Campsite and glamping business in Spain: costs, licences and payback

An operating campsite in Spain sells for around €0.8–0.9m: 2026 asking prices ran from €190,000 to €3.5m.

A new glamping site of 8–15 units costs €0.5–1.5m excluding land. Payback is usually 6–10 years.

Land and licence decide the deal: campsites sit on rural land, and permission comes from the region and the town hall.

Below: what it costs to buy an existing campsite or build a glamping site, where you can open one and how the rules differ by region, what these businesses earn, what to check before buying and which taxes apply. The page includes a payback calculator with an illustrative campsite.

The campsite market in Spain

According to INE, Spain had an average of 862 campsites open in 2025 with 154,720 pitches.

They recorded 49.75 million overnight stays, and average pitch occupancy for the year was 45.8%. The four summer months account for 63.8% of all stays.

In August 2026 occupancy was 62.1%, and campsite prices were up 5.1% year on year.

Industry estimates are broader: EY counts around 1,250 campsites with sector revenue of €1.65bn in 2024.

93% are family-owned, and many owners are approaching retirement: campsite deals topped €250m in 2025, and investment funds are entering the sector.

Glamping prices are rising fastest — glamping tent rates up 14% a year against 8% for standard pitches.

Occupancy figures are quoted in different ways. The campsite federation FEEC reported around 90% in July 2026 — a survey of members in peak weeks.

INE counts every open campsite and every pitch over the month, hence 62.1% in August. For a financial model, use INE data for your province and season, not peak-week numbers.

What it costs to buy a campsite

We reviewed 21 listings for operating and licensed campsites and glamping sites (October 2026).

Fourteen state an exact price: from €190,000 to €3,500,000, with a median of about €865,000. These are asking prices, not transaction prices — they come down in negotiation.

The spread is twentyfold, and it makes sense. On the coast a hectare of operating campsite costs €1.3–2m; inland, €0.35–0.5m.

A pitch in a classic campsite in the sample works out at roughly €6,000–35,000, a glamping unit at €43,000–150,000: the buyer is paying for the licence to operate units, not for the land.

Non-trading properties are sold separately: land with a licence or a favourable council report, projects, concessions for municipal campsites.

That is a project, not a business: permits and construction stand between you and the first euro of revenue.

Buying with a loan takes a lot of equity.

According to the broker gestion-camping, banks expect a deposit of 40–45% of the price — in practice at least €300,000–400,000 of your own money.

Banks are more willing to lend against the campsite’s assets than against shares in the owning company.

What it costs to build a glamping site

Glamping is a campsite with ready-made comfortable accommodation: safari tents, domes, treehouses, lodges.

Manufacturer prices in 2026: a bell tent costs about €4,000, a large safari tent €15,000–30,000, a dome with facilities €25,000–30,000, a design pavilion about €55,000, a treehouse about €100,000.

On top of that comes 20–40% for delivery, installation and site preparation, plus €3,000–5,000 per unit to connect water, drainage and electricity.

Industry consultants put a mid-market glamping site of 8–15 units at €0.5–1.5m of investment and a premium site of 12–30 units at €1.5–10m.

The units themselves are only 30–40% of the budget; the rest goes on reception, washroom blocks, roads, utilities, design and permits.

An illustrative example: 10 domes at €30,000 — €300,000; installation (+30%) — €90,000; utilities at €4,000 each — €40,000; shared infrastructure — €250,000; design and permits — €30,000. Total: about €710,000 excluding land.

Time to opening depends on the land. Converting an existing operation takes 8–10 months. Land where tourism is already permitted takes 12–18 months. Land that needs a change of use takes 15–22 months.

Where you can open a campsite: land and licences

Tourism in Spain is a regional competence: each autonomous community has its own campsite decree. Almost everywhere you need two permissions.

The tourism one — a declaration or authorisation and registration in the regional tourism register.

The planning one — a municipal licence and confirmation that the town plan allows a campsite on that land.

Most campsites sit on rural land (suelo rústico, no urbanizable). Building on it requires special permission, and this is the main risk and the main source of delay:

• In the Valencian Community, non-developable land needs a Declaración de Interés Comunitario (DIC) from the regional government before the municipal licence. It carries a fee: in a campsite project in Polop it was 2% of the construction budget, with permission granted for 30 years.
• In Andalusia, building on rural land is an “extraordinary action” under the LISTA planning law, requiring prior authorisation and a compensation payment of up to 10% of the works budget.
• Campsites are banned throughout Spain in the preferential flood-flow zone (zona de flujo preferente) — checked on the SNCZI maps of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition. Many regions also ban campsites on any flood-prone land.

Land sold as “for a campsite” without a DIC or regional authorisation is a bet that permission will be granted. Do not pay a business price for it.

Rules by region

The key difference for an investor is how much space can go to bungalows, mobile homes and glamping units.

They generate most of the revenue, and the cap in the regional decree limits what the land can earn.

Opening a new campsite on the coast is hard almost everywhere: Catalonia, which accounts for 38% of all campsite stays in Spain, saw only four new campsites open in two years.

That is why a licensed coastal campsite is expensive, and new projects move inland and north.

Glamping: how it is registered

Spain has no specific glamping law. A glamping site is usually registered in one of three ways:

• as a campsite — glamping units count towards the cap on fixed accommodation in the table above. The simplest route when buying an existing campsite;
• as “singular accommodation” (alojamiento singular) — treehouses, domes, yurts, caves. The category exists in Aragon and Extremadura, Navarre and some other regions — check yours;
• as a rural house (casa rural) — if the units are treated as buildings.

Glamping almost always sits on rural land, so lawyers advise confirming with the town hall that tourism is possible on the plot before buying the land or the company.

Even three domes need a licence: one 2026 listing sells a three-bubble glamping site precisely with a campsite licence.

What campsites and glamping sites earn

Average campsite revenue in Spain is about €1.3m a year (€1.65bn for the sector across 1,250 campsites, per EY), but that average includes large resorts.

A small campsite of 100–150 pitches earns several times less, and almost all of it in summer.

• Nightly rate. INE does not publish an average campsite rate. In Catalonia a bungalow averages about €180 a night in high season and over €217 at the peak. Mid-market glamping charges €150–300 a night, premium €400–650.
• Occupancy. Campsites: 45.8% on average over the year, 62.1% in August. Glamping from its third year: 50–65%.
• Costs. Staff 15–25% of revenue, utilities 8–12%, unit maintenance 5–8%. Glamping operating margins run at 28–38% mid-market and 35–45% premium.
• Payback. Consultants put glamping at 7–10 years. Manufacturers’ “pays for itself in a year” ignores land, licences and shared infrastructure.

An illustrative 10-dome glamping site: 10 units × 365 nights × 55% occupancy × €180 = about €361,000 of revenue a year. At a 30% margin that is about €108,000 of operating profit.

With €710,000 invested and land at €150,000, payback after corporate tax is about 10 years.

Campsite payback calculator

The calculator holds an illustrative operating campsite: price €900,000, another €120,000 to refresh the bungalows and as start-up cash, a 7-month season with revenue of €60,000 a month.

Supplies are 12% of revenue, staff €14,000 per season month, other costs €6,000 a month all year.

Pre-tax profit is €199,600 a year, about €158,700 after tax, and the €1,020,000 investment pays back in about 6.4 years. Enter the figures for the property you are considering.

Take revenue from bank statements, VAT returns (modelo 303) and the booking system, not from the seller’s presentation.

To judge whether the project is worth your money once timing is taken into account, see IRR (internal rate of return); for how sellers justify a price, see How to value a business for sale.

What to check before buying a campsite

1. Licence versus reality. The number of pitches, units and the category in the regional tourism register must match what stands on the land. Bungalows above the decree’s cap are a breach and may have to be removed.
2. Every building. Reception, restaurant, pool, cabins — each with a municipal licence and, on rural land, a DIC or regional authorisation. Check that nothing is classed as “outside the plan” (fuera de ordenación).
3. How long the land permission runs. Permissions on rural land are often time-limited — a DIC for 30 years, for instance. The remaining term goes straight into the price.
4. Water. A private well used commercially usually requires a concession from the river basin authority (Confederación Hidrográfica).
5. Floods and fires. SNCZI flood maps and a forest-fire self-protection plan. In Catalonia, 16 campsites have more than half their area in a severe flood-risk zone.
6. Third-party mobile homes. Campsites often host clients’ own mobile homes — 24 of 33 in one listing. Check the contracts, terms and who owns what.
7. The numbers. Monthly revenue for 3 years from bank statements, modelo 303 and booking reports; actual occupancy, not the peak week.
8. The seller’s debts. The buyer of a trading business is liable for the seller’s tax debts (art. 42.1.c LGT) and Social Security debts (art. 168.2 LGSS), and staff transfer with all their rights (art. 44 ET). Protection: a tax clearance certificate and warranties in the contract.

If you are buying the owning company (an SL) rather than the campsite itself, all its debts stay with it — you need full due diligence.

How an existing business is checked before you pay a deposit is described on our traspaso audit page.

Non-EU buyers should check one more thing: on the islands, near the border and around military sites, buying land may require military authorisation (Ley 8/1975), which takes 3–6 months.

Taxes and staff

• VAT. Campsite accommodation is taxed at the reduced 10% rate (art. 91.Uno.2.2º Ley 37/1992), and food in the campsite restaurant is also 10%. Long-term letting of a pitch without services may be treated as a rental at a different rate — check with a tax adviser.
• IBI. Property tax on rural land is 0.3–0.9% of cadastral value, with the rate set by the town hall; buildings on rural land are valued as buildings, so the bill is often higher than expected.
• Tourist tax. In Catalonia and the Balearics the campsite collects a per-night tax from guests and pays it to the region.
• Corporate tax. If the campsite belongs to an SL, in 2026 a company with turnover under €1m pays 19% on the first €50,000 of profit and 21% above. How best to take profit out of the company is covered in Salary or dividends from a Spanish SL.
• Staff. Campsites fall under the national hospitality agreement (ALEH); pay is set by provincial collective agreements, and some provinces, such as Barcelona, have a separate campsite agreement.

If you are moving to Spain for this business

A non-resident can buy a campsite, but a non-EU citizen can live in Spain and run it personally only with a residence permit — usually a self-employment permit, for one year at first.

Which permit suits the owner, what comes first — the permit or the purchase — and whether you can live on your own site is covered by Relotus in «Campsite and glamping in Spain for foreigners».

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to buy a campsite in Spain?

In a sample of 2026 listings, operating campsites cost from €190,000 to €3.5m, with a median of about €865,000. A hectare on the coast costs €1.3–2m, inland €0.35–0.5m. These are asking prices: they come down in negotiation.

How much does it cost to start a glamping business?

A mid-market glamping site of 8–15 units costs €0.5–1.5m excluding land. A dome with facilities costs €25,000–30,000 and a treehouse about €100,000, plus 20–40% for installation and €3,000–5,000 per unit for utilities. The units are only 30–40% of the budget.

Can you open a glamping site on rural land?

Yes, if the town hall and the region allow tourism on that plot: the Valencian Community requires a DIC, Andalusia an authorisation for an “extraordinary action”. Campsites are banned everywhere in the preferential flood-flow zone. Check before you buy the land.

Do you need a licence for 3–5 glamping units?

Yes. Even a few units for tourists form a tourist establishment: it is registered as a campsite, singular accommodation or a rural house in the regional tourism register, and the structures need a municipal licence.

What is the payback period for a campsite or glamping site?

Usually 6–10 years. Industry consultants put glamping at 7–10 years with 50–65% occupancy and 28–45% margins. The one-to-two-year payback promised by unit manufacturers ignores land, licences and shared infrastructure.

Can you live on your own campsite?

You cannot live on a campsite as a home: in Andalusia, for example, residential use of a campsite is prohibited and a guest cannot stay more than 6 months a year. Housing for the owner and staff is arranged separately.

Key points about campsites and glamping in Spain

• An operating campsite costs €0.8–0.9m on average; a new glamping site of 8–15 units costs €0.5–1.5m excluding land.
• Land and licence set the price: a new coastal campsite is almost impossible to open, and in the Balearics it is not allowed.
• The share for bungalows and glamping units is capped by regional decree — usually 50–60%.
• Revenue is seasonal: two thirds of stays fall in four summer months. Payback is 6–10 years.
• Before buying: the tourism register, licences for every building, water, flood zones, the seller’s debts and figures from bank statements.

Sources

• INE — Encuesta de Ocupación en Acampamentos Turísticos, August 2026: ine.es; 2025 results — Hosteltur.
• EY, The Open Air Property Telescope — Forbes España.
• Decreto 26/2018 (Andalusia) — BOJA.
• Ley 37/1992 (VAT), art. 91 — BOE; RDL 2/2004 (IBI), art. 72 — BOE.
• Campsites in Catalonia: market and new openings — 3cat.
• Glamping regulation — Legal Today; investment and returns — Nature Hospitality Advisory.
• Campsite listings — gestion-camping.es, businessesforsale, October 2026.