“Technology Will Never Be Able to Automate Emotion”
– Aurore Laroche
50 years – what now?
And here we are. Fifty summers have gone by. Fifty seasons filled with families, loyal guests, and children who grew up and became parents, returning with children of their own. Today, I want to look towards the future. Because the next 50 years intrigue me just as much as the 50 that have just passed. What will outdoor hospitality look like in 2076? What will have disappeared? What will have emerged?
What AI will never do
There has been a lot of talk about artificial intelligence lately. I do not deny the changes it is bringing – to working methods, to our tools, and to the way businesses are organised. But there is one thing it will never do. It will never truly welcome you. It will never give you the warmth of a smile when you arrive. It will never make you experience an evening on the patio, drinks with your neighbours from the pitch next door, or a morning in the Mediterranean scrubland with the scent of pine trees warmed by the sun.
Tomorrow, we may be able to put on a virtual reality headset from our sofa and simulate any journey imaginable. But we will never be able to reproduce the warmth of the sun on our skin, the sound of water, a child’s laughter, or the experience of meeting other people. What campsites offer is not simply accommodation. It is an experience that could not be more real.
Outdoor hospitality has a future
I sincerely believe that outdoor hospitality will navigate the coming decades better than traditional hospitality. Because it offers what AI cannot provide: human connection, freedom, fresh air and nature.
Recent studies confirm this: 79% of holidaymakers consider fresh air and being outdoors essential to their ability to relax. Four- and five-star campsites now achieve higher occupancy rates than all other categories. The market is validating something we have always believed in here: comfort AND nature, service AND freedom, privacy AND community.
Bringing people together, always
For 50 years, Esterel Caravaning has been doing something that few places manage to achieve: bringing people together. Families arrive knowing no one and leave with new friends. They come back the following year and find the same familiar faces, the same neighbours and the same traditions. At a time when people are increasingly living within their own bubbles, behind their screens, this is something precious. Here, there is life. A lot of life.
Camping here is multigenerational: grandparents, parents and children can each enjoy a completely different holiday in the same place… and then come together again in the evening.
And look at what has been happening over the past few years: more and more families are coming from Nice and Marseille, holidaying less than an hour from home. Not because they cannot afford to travel further. But because the moment they arrive here, they feel somewhere else entirely. Truly.
Our vision for the next 50 years
My vision for the future can be summed up in just a few words: invisible technology, visible experiences, people are essential. AI will work behind the scenes – supporting maintenance, managing flows, anticipating needs and enabling personalisation. Its purpose will be to free up our teams’ time so they can focus on what machines do poorly: observing, listening, welcoming, reassuring, surprising and creating memories.
Nature will no longer simply be the backdrop. It will become part of the infrastructure itself. Shade, trees, biodiversity, fresh air, water – everything we have been building and nurturing for the past 50 years will become even more valuable tomorrow, in a world increasingly searching for places where it can breathe.
For the next 50 years, our mission remains the same: to offer every guest who passes through our gates a place where they can feel at home while also feeling surprised, transported and genuinely welcomed. To continue innovating, planting, building and imagining. And to keep human warmth at the very heart of everything we do at Esterel Caravaning.
Between us: Thank you
This is the final newsletter of the season. 21 episodes. 21 moments shared together since March. I simply wanted to say thank you.
So many of you have followed us throughout this summer. So many of you have written to us, telling us that an anecdote made you smile, that a familiar face brought back a memory, or that you were eagerly waiting for the next episode.
This saga comes to an end today, along with this exceptional season. But the story continues – in a book that will bring together these 50 years of memories, portraits and anecdotes. The next chapter is one we will continue writing together.
See you very soon.
– Aurore
