Once a fragmented, family-run corner of hospitality, camping is getting a serious glow-up. At First Camp, Northern Europe's leading operator of camping and resorts, former AP Johan Söör (Stockholm 05-12) is combining sharp commercial discipline with lakeside charm: scaling acquisitions, riding the “coolcation” wave, and turning Nordic campsites into year-round destinations for travelers chasing fresh air, Northern Lights, and moments of happiness.
You became CEO of First Camp in 2018. How did your time at our Firm shape the way you approached pulling together such a scattered, mostly family-run camping market?
During my seven years with the Firm, I did a lot of work in the travel and hospitality space, especially on commercial topics such as pricing, CRM and sales. When the opportunity for the CEO role of First Camp arose, I didn’t know much about camping, but I quickly realized that a lot of the knowledge I had gained at McKinsey could be applied to the camping sector, too.
On a more general note, what you learn at McKinsey gives you a great toolbox for a CEO position to quickly grasp key issues and prioritize, and to know what it takes to build a high-performing and values-driven culture, among others.
First Camp has grown quickly through acquisitions, including the Sommarvik Group in 2025. When you bring a new family business into the fold, how do you go about making it part of the group?
Contrary to what one might expect from an ex-consultant, I’m not a big fan of launching full-scale 100-day programs directly after an acquisition. Although we typically know what we want to do with a newly acquired site, we take it step by step and want to get to know the site and the local team and guests.
As one of our largest synergy areas is our joint booking platform, we integrate the campsite onto that platform. Then we have a set of operational concepts, such as food and beverage offerings, kids’ club, and shopping, which can be applied gradually while preserving the unique identity of the site.
With Southern Europe becoming hotter in the summers, the "coolcation" trend has taken off. You've seen a lot more international guests heading north for cooler Scandinavian summers. Is climate change shaping where you're looking to buy and build down the road?
Yes, ”coolcation” is an important structural trend and there is research that confirms that some tourist flows in the summer season will shift from southern to northern Europe. Typically, the number of campers from Germany, the largest country in Europe in terms of registered camping vehicles, at our sites in Scandinavia is growing by 15% year after year. Our strategy is to stay north of the Alps, and we’re not looking for M&A opportunities in southern Europe.
Even with the recent economic ups and downs, First Camp hit a revenue record in July 2025 and grew its loyalty program to 240,000 members. Why do you think camping and resorts have held up so well?
If you have invested in your own motorhome or caravan, you want to use it during your vacation. Furthermore, camping offers excellent value for money and a broad range of accommodation options, ranging from premium seaside cabins in resorts with waterparks and kids’ clubs to very affordable accommodation at more modest campsites. One of the things that surprised me when I joined the industry was the high profitability margin, with many campsites achieving at least 40% EBITDA margin.
You just had your best-ever first quarter, partly thanks to your bets on winter tourism. How are you turning what used to be a summer business into something that hums along all year?
Winter tourism in the Nordics is growing twice as fast as summer tourism. Visitors from all over the world want to experience the Northern Lights, and winter activities such as reindeer rides and snow-mobile safaris at a place where the winter climate is very solid, unlike the challenges many skiing resorts in the Alps face.
We have entered this market through a acquisitions, but are also converting some of our campsites into full-year destinations. As one example, in the winter season there is a direct weekly flight from Paris to our destination in Luleå in the north of Sweden where French tourists stay in our cabins. Furthermore, we have synergies on the staff side and can employ more people all year round.
First Camp's whole mission is about creating "moments of happiness." With so many people working across all your sites, how do you actually make that happen and keep the guest experience great everywhere?
We’re a people business and our number-one priority is to recruit and develop the right people and leaders. In addition to that, we’re quite obsessed with measuring and analyzing guest satisfaction and it’s one of the KPIs we follow most in the management team. And then you have the soft things, such as being visible out there at our destinations. I’ve been to all our 92 sites and it gives me a lot of energy to be out there and meet colleagues and guests.
What would you tell other alumni thinking about jumping into a CEO role in an industry they don't necessarily know well?
I’ve seen many good examples of CEOs who were new to an industry and the benefits that brought. They bring a fresh perspective and aren't constrained by the industry's conventional wisdom, as long as they approach it with curiosity and humility. You need to ensure that you and the owners/board share the same vision for what you should achieve. Along the way, I’ve realized how important it is for a CEO to have a strong owner and/or a board that is ready to make decisions.
