In the following years, CARAVAN SALON continued to record growing exhibitor and visitor numbers, which was mainly due to the up-and-coming motorhomes. After the tenth CARAVAN SALON it was already foreseeable that motorhomes would play an increasingly important role. In 1972 motor caravans, as they were called at that time, already occupied more than one third of the exhibition space.
Although the trade fairs held in 1974 and 1975 were characterized by the recession and oil crisis, the industry which had previously enjoyed constant growth saw itself confronted with uncertain customers for the first time, but emerged from the crisis almost unscathed, while interest in caravanning remained stable and the quality and fittings of the vehicles continued to increase.
At the 20th CARAVAN SALON in 1981 the sector experienced a difficult phase due, among others, to increasing oil prices. As a consequence of this, in 1981 in Essen, the manufacturers presented an unprecedented range of model diversity in the medium caravan category between 800 and 1,200 kg with the aim of saving petrol.
Record camper numbers in the early 1980s, new, larger halls and a direct underground connection to the Essen exhibition centre enabled CARAVAN SALON to expand further up to its 25th anniversary in 1986. CARAVAN SALON continued to change from a pure sales exhibition to an experience fair all about mobile holidays.
In 1993 the largest change in the history of the CARAVAN SALON was about to happen: with its growing significance and the increasing desire for more exhibition space, CARAVAN SALON in Essen had finally reached its limits. In a joint press conference, the VDWH, Messe Essen and Messe Düsseldorf announced that CARAVAN SALON would be moving to Düsseldorf as of 1994.