Beautiful nature, star lights, coffee machines, tents with simple and elegant colors, folding tables and chairs with a sense of design... Various elements that symbolize beauty constitute the public's impression of exquisite camping.
Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the domestic exquisite camping market has ushered in rapid development. In 2021, there will be more than 15,000 new campground companies. "Pick-in" has become the main driving force for many tourists to experience exquisite camping, and it has also caused some concerns in the industry.
After being swiped by the beautiful photos in the circle of friends, do you yearn to "live elsewhere"?
They choose to go out of town to "dream"
After the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in early 2020, Ms. Liu's family refunded the round-trip air ticket to Sanya and chose to celebrate the New Year in Beijing.
Now, Ms. Liu's family of three has not traveled far for two years.
Even if she couldn't travel far, Ms. Liu still thought of a way, and that was camping.
She pulled out the long-standing tent on the balcony, which she bought for nearly 200 yuan three years ago. Due to the troublesome assembly, it was "hidden" after only one use.
However, because she could not find the matching ground nails, she finally started a new tent that does not need to be set up. In addition to the tent, the package also includes inflatable beds, pillows, camping lights and other accessories. The total price is about 600 yuan.
"On holidays or weekends, we will go camping with tents, sometimes in the suburbs, sometimes in special camps, which can be regarded as an alternative to tourism." Ms. Liu said that she would also do homework in the circle of friends and Xiaohongshu, Not only for reference destinations, but also for research camping gear.
Now, Ms. Liu's camping "Family Bucket" has added folding tables and chairs, coffee machines, gas stoves, cooking utensils, etc., and can even barbecue outdoors.
After the outbreak of the epidemic, the number of tourists like Ms. Liu has increased, and the saying that "2020 is the first year of camping" has spread like wildfire.
According to data from China Research Institute, China's camping market will be around 700 billion yuan in 2020, with an annual growth rate of 40%.
In 2020, the release volume of Xiaohongshu camping-related notes increased by 271% year-on-year, and the views of camping-related notes increased by 170% year-on-year.
According to Guanyan Tianxia, there have been many film and television works about camping since 2020, such as the domestic variety show "Just a Teenager" and the Korean variety show "Sensual Camping", which have driven the popularity of camping to a certain extent.
According to Ctrip's latest "Spring Travel Trend Report", in the past week, the search volume of camping products in Ctrip stations has increased by more than 80% month-on-month; bookings of camping products for travel from March to April are hot, with bookings increasing by 120% month-on-month. Among them, parent-child travel accounted for 45%.
In addition, according to the data of "What's Worth Buying", during the March 8th promotion, the GMV of "camping" keyword products increased by 83% year-on-year.
With the rapid increase in the popularity of camping, the concept of "exquisite camping" has gradually entered the public.
According to the data, Glamping is a combination of "Glamorous Camping", also known as wild luxury and luxury camping.
Different from traditional camping, exquisite camping pays more attention to the aesthetics and style of equipment, and pursues a youthful and personalized experience.
Searching for "exquisite camping" on social media platforms, you can see a variety of "high-value" camping blockbusters, and every tourist who appears has a strong "literary style".
Ms. Liu also likes to take pictures after setting up the camp, and she often gets a lot of likes after posting it on the Moments.
Before and after the epidemic, exquisite camping ushered in a "watershed"
Regarding the changes in the camping market before and after the epidemic, as an exquisite camping practitioner, Cui Lianbo, founder of Hi King Wild Luxury Camp, feels more directly.
"The camping camps before the epidemic may be professional RV camps, youth camps, or outdoor camps for 'ALICE pals', but there are almost no real recreational mass camps before 2019. Affected by the epidemic, this industry It has become a popular leisure lifestyle, and a large number of family weekend camping has emerged, which is an important change." Cui Lianbo told the Beijing News Shell Finance reporter.
Hi King Wild Luxury Camp (hereinafter referred to as "Hi King") recently announced that it has received a million-dollar angel round of financing. The investor is Yiwu Boting Tourism Development Co., Ltd., a light luxury tent manufacturer.
Hi King said the round of financing will continue to be used to build a boutique camping chain business model and drive "new lifestyles" to a larger market.
In addition, in November 2021, the camping brand "Big Hot Wilderness" received two consecutive rounds of financing, and the funds will be used for camp expansion and market operations.
According to iiMedia Research, from 2014 to 2021, the market size of camping camps in China increased from 7.71 billion yuan to 29.9 billion yuan.
As of October 15, 2021, there were more than 30,000 campsite companies in China, and more than 8,000 and 15,000 campsite companies were added in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
At the same time, consumers have relatively high equipment requirements for camping sites. Over 70% of consumers want to be equipped with toilets and showers; over 60% of consumers want to be equipped with external power supplies and drainage and water supply facilities; over 50% of consumers want Hope to have garbage collection and catering facilities.
iiMedia Research consulting analysts believe that the current Chinese camping consumers are not pursuing the rough camping style of "self-reliance" in the past, but a life experience of contacting nature on a certain material basis.
This view has also been affirmed by consumers.
Ms. Liu told the Beijing News Shell Finance reporter that considering the safety and comfort of children, she prefers camps and scenic spots with complete facilities. "I want to experience nature, not to survive in the wilderness."
And some camps with bald lawns, too many people, not enough parking spaces, "all relying on" filters, and garbage being thrown everywhere and not cleaned up in time will be published by consumers on the online platform for "lightning avoidance".
Although consumers require complete facilities, the investment cost of camping camps is not high compared to hotels and homestays.
Taking Hi King as an example, when selecting a site, an area with an urban population of more than 3 million and a campsite within 80 kilometers of the city is often selected. The site selection targets are mostly scenic spots, and they cooperate through leasing or sharing with scenic spots.
At present, the investment of a single Hi King camp is between 600,000 and 800,000 yuan, and the scale is about 30 tents.
Since the tent is detachable and movable, the layout of the camp is also more flexible. It can even be removed in the off-season and put back in the peak season.
Exquisite camping with light investment and heavy operation
However, in addition to "light investment", exquisite camping is a "heavy operation" market.
The main problem that worries Cui Lianbo at the moment is that the outside world is treating exquisite camping as a simple check-in point for Internet celebrities, and the cultural core of camping may be affected.
"Many people now regard camping as a check-in point for Internet celebrities, and this concept may lead to a bias in the domestic camping industry, thereby losing camping culture. Overseas, camping culture is outdoor experience, practical education, nature education or outdoor recreation. The camp needs to highlight its own connotation, so that more people like camping, participate in camping, and gain value from it, otherwise everyone just punches in for a moment, and this industry may end up being a short-lived."
In the interview, some consumers who have experienced exquisite camping, when talking about whether they will go there repeatedly, all expressed denial, for different reasons: the camping facilities are not good, there are too many people, it is very crowded, and there is no need to go there. It is necessary to go again, it is not as fun as imagined... Ms. Liu also reported that the fees of some camps do not match the actual experience, the cost performance is low, and some camps are dirty and the tents are too densely distributed, resulting in a poor experience.
At present, Hi King's main customer group is family tourists.
In order to increase the repurchase rate, Hi King has developed a set of camping education courses for teenagers, teaching how to set up tents, identify directions, make fire and water and other common sense of wilderness survival; hold a variety of theme activities throughout the year, and keep the content of the activities constantly updated; During the operation, a set of standardized service system was designed to control the service quality of the camps in various places.
"I told all my colleagues that everything we do must be centered on repurchase. Camping around the city needs to cultivate the habit of urban tourists." Cui Lianbo said, "Operation is very important, camping is a real' Asset-light, operation-heavy projects.”
Re-operation also means improved talent and service standards.
"In terms of facilities and equipment, camping is less investment than hotels and small towns. In the long run, the domestic CPI has been suppressed at a low level after the outbreak. For example, the CPI from January to February this year rose by 0.9% year-on-year. , but the CPI for services has been soaring." Wei Xiang, a professor at the Institute of Financial and Economic Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said, "Services are becoming more and more expensive, as is camping. Camping is a type of service that values knowledge and skills. , the heavy investment lies in people. In fact, the entire tourism industry will face such a problem in the future, that is, how to reduce costs and how to deal with this heavy investment in the process of converting from labor to human capital. "
Lack of access standards and rules, requiring diversified innovation and development
In addition, the Beijing News Shell Finance reporter found in the investigation that there is also a certain contradiction between the current tourists' demand for campsites and the supply and management of campsites.
Many consumers said that they had the experience of being driven away by the staff of the scenic spot after setting up a tent.
"Most of the specialized camping camps are far away, and I want to camp in the scenic spots and parks in the urban area, but they are not allowed. Especially in some parks, there are no signs to remind me that many people are pitching tents there, so I will follow them. When the tent was erected, it was chased away by the security guards." A consumer said.
Wei Xiang said: "We still lack access standards and rules for a special format like camping. If such access is not regulated by government joint ventures, there will be big problems. A typical example is the sharing of bicycles. .Due to the initial lack of access governance and access regulation, the result is that parking is available everywhere, and finally caused flooding. That is to say, private property rights use public property rights such as roads for free, which eventually leads to operational problems and social problems. Camping and bike sharing have similarities."
In the context of the lack of access standards and rules, more problems are also extended.
Wei Xiang pointed out: "Because of the lack of relevant rules, it is difficult to define the ownership and management of the camp, especially the residual distribution or profit distribution brought about by management. There is no standard for admission and no governance, which is why the park drives out Internal reasons for tourists.”
Although there are still some problems, more imagination space is being excavated around exquisite camping.
Tourists' consumption of camping is no longer limited to camp tickets, and the past impression of camping "wind meal camping" has also been quickly broken.
iiMedia Research Consulting analysts believe that with the development of the camping economy, camping camps will move towards a development path with diversified styles. At present, models such as "camp + research", "camp + sports", and "camp + performing arts" have emerged. It is expected that camping will take place in the future. The camp will develop towards a diversified and innovative path.
In addition, some camping practitioners also hope to contact the government in the future to cooperate on the construction of public campsites.
Hi King also found new consumer trends.
According to reports, after experiencing camping, many tourists will consult the brand of camping supplies, "plant grass" and buy camping lights, tableware and other supplies, and inadvertently build an offline experience consumption scene.
To this end, Hi King established a scene e-commerce this year to meet consumer demand.
When asked at the end of the interview why she likes camping, Ms. Liu thought for a while and said, "It makes me feel like I live a very different life." In the recent March 8th e-commerce promotion, she spent another 20 minutes. 700 yuan to buy a set of Morandi folding tables and chairs.
"I want to make life more beautiful."
Beijing News Shell Finance reporter Zheng Yijia