Sports tourism unleashes consumption potential——
Outdoor sports are heating up
Our reporter Han Bingzhi
The much-anticipated Beijing Winter Olympics pushed the public's enthusiasm for sports consumption to a climax.
In the post-Winter Olympics era, the effect of the Winter Olympics continues. Whether it is thrilling extreme sports, or relaxing hiking, cycling, camping... Outdoor sports have become a leisure choice for more and more people.
Camping short videos "occupy" the circle of friends, outdoor equipment is selling well, and niche sports have become mainstream... Since this spring, Beijing citizens' enthusiasm for outdoor sports has gradually increased, especially outdoor activities such as camping, cycling, and lure have replaced traditional scenic spots. A day trip will release greater consumption potential and vitality.
Camping fire out of the circle
"During the Qingming holiday, the circle of friends was swiped by camping." "Dalian Mengjiang", the chief lifestyle homemaker of "What's Worth Buying" in the consumer content community, is an outdoor sports enthusiast.
She told reporters: "I learned about camping in movies and TV dramas at first, but now camping pictures can be seen everywhere on social media. Go to the mall before the festival, and camping equipment is also placed in the most conspicuous position."
As the weather warms up, Wenyu River Park, Grand Canal Forest Park, and Tongzhou City Lvxin Park have become popular campsites in Beijing.
Among them, Wenyu River Park, located at the junction of Chaoyang, Shunyi and Changping, is the largest "green lung" in Beijing.
During the Qingming Festival this year, forsythia, peaches, apricots, magnolias, lilacs, etc. bloomed in the park one after another, and a tent camping site of 30,000 square meters was officially opened.
Many Beijing residents brought their families and opened tents to enjoy the rare holiday comfortably.
In addition to country parks, some areas in the suburbs of Beijing are also looking for business opportunities to launch camps focusing on camping tourism, which are also very popular.
Camping tours with elements of mountains, nature and green space performed well, and related products jumped to become a new consumption hotspot.
According to data released by Ctrip, the number of bookings for camping products during the Qingming Festival in 2022 will increase by more than three times year-on-year.
The report released by the "What's Worth Buying" platform also shows that during this year's "3.8" shopping festival, the popularity of camping-related moisture-proof mats, tents, and jackets increased by 44%, 67%, and 107% year-on-year, respectively.
Zhang Yuang, head of the "What's Worth Buying" commercial operation center, pointed out that consumers have tried camping tours as early as 2014.
However, camping has really become a popular leisure method in recent years, mainly based on the guidance of policy promotion, lifestyle changes, and social network effects.
"With the acceleration of urbanization, the leisure needs of residents in first- and second-tier cities have begun to develop in depth, and the proportion of rural leisure categories continues to rise. In 2021, the popularity of 'what's worth buying' in the station's 'camping' will increase by 187% year-on-year. Regarding camping equipment and camps , camping storage, and tents have continued to gain discussion and attention. Among them, 'exquisite camping' has become a hot topic."
"The so-called exquisite camping refers to the addition of sky screens, light stands, outdoor light sources, coffee machines and other equipment on the basis of the traditional one-person-one-account, so that consumers' leisure experience can be upgraded again." "What is worth buying?" Outdoor sports industry Professional editor Zheng Jin'e said that "exquisite camping" people are more popular among young white-collar workers, and experiencers can not only experience the slow-paced life, but also more easily realize the standard configuration of social networks such as taking pictures and punching cards.
The minority becomes the public
Camping, which was once a niche tourism form, has become a new trend in consumption.
Outdoor sports represented by the "camping+" model not only shows consumers' new pursuit of camping experience, but also virtually promotes the growth of the sports tourism market.
“Walking on the mountain trails around the city on weekends, or cycling around the city on a sunny day, or taking your baby to experience camping yoga, these forms are inseparable from sports tourism. For new sports people, Sports can be fun and can be perfectly integrated with daily life. From 'far-view' to 'trying', sports are becoming a new way of mass leisure for the whole people to participate in." said Feng Rao, president of Mafengwo Tourism Research Institute.
According to the statistics of the Mafengwo platform, the younger generation of "post-80s" and "post-90s" who are keen to discover new things and have a certain economic foundation are the most important part of sports travel.
Since the beginning of 2003 when he tried outdoor sports, Xia Dongjun, a member of Mafengwo, has a history of outdoor sports for nearly 20 years.
Xia Dongjun's family chose to visit the Huyu Natural Scenic Area in Changping District, Beijing.
"Here, the children play in the water, I play lure, and my wife climbs the mountain. The family has a lot of fun." Xia Dongjun said.
Since last year, Xia Dongjun has fallen in love with Lure sports.
The so-called lure is a sport of "catching real fish with fake bait", also known as "water golf".
"Taiwan fishing that we know well uses bait to attract fish and then catch them. Lure needs to find the fish first, and then use fake bait and bait control methods to 'cheat' the fish." Xia Dongjun said.
Xia Dongjun told reporters that his current sports consumption mainly focuses on purchasing Lure equipment.
Lure sports is one of the fastest growing items in outdoor sports in the past two years. "The price of professional equipment lure poles has risen more than three times in the last year. Many young people take off their ski suits in spring. Putting into the arms of Lure, it can be seen that more and more people are participating in this sport, and the trend of youth is becoming more and more obvious.”
Lure sports are becoming more and more popular because they are closer to nature and have simpler equipment requirements.
"Sports and tourism are not completely separate concepts. Major regions of the country have their own sports leisure characteristics, such as the ice and snow in the northeast, the ocean in east China, the mountains in the southwest, and the grasslands in the northwest. Everywhere is digging into the natural environment and sports. Combined tourism and entertainment resources." Feng Rao said that the diversity of gameplay determines that sports tourism has a broad audience.
Whether it's a thrilling extreme sport, or a relaxing walk and fishing, people of any interest circle can participate in it more or less.
time to ride
With the continuous enhancement of national fitness awareness and green travel awareness, bicycles have also changed from a means of transportation in the past to a popular pastime that integrates leisure, sports and culture.
Spring is in full bloom, and many Beijing residents go out of their homes to go out for a bike ride and enjoy the flowers and outings.
The reporter visited several bicycle stores in Beijing and learned that spring has become the peak season for bicycle sales due to the increasing number of citizens who exercise outdoors.
In recent years, the sales of medium and high-end bicycles have maintained a growth trend.
Especially since the outbreak of the epidemic, the number of people using bicycles as commuter transportation has increased significantly.
The "big face cute sauce" who likes to ride also feels this way.
"I bought a bicycle in 2018. At that time, my friends were very puzzled. There are so many shared bicycles on the road. Cycling gear like helmets, gloves, dash cams, etc.”
The "2022 China Bicycle Electric Bicycle Trend Report" recently released by the China Bicycle Association shows that from the perspective of consumption trends, urban recreational vehicles focus on improving riding comfort, and the national trend style design adds local cultural elements; among road bicycles, disc brake road bicycles Accelerated popularization, electronic shifting is popularized from top road bikes to sports enthusiasts; mountain bikes pay more attention to a variety of riding experiences.
Feng Rao believes that as my country enters the stage of normalized epidemic prevention and control, people have greater enthusiasm for healthy lifestyles, and leisure and entertainment projects such as cycling and mountain climbing combined with sports will gradually become the mainstream of people's choice.
"It is foreseeable that with the boost of sports tourism, consumers' demand for high-tech sports equipment will also become increasingly prominent. For example, sports cameras can not only better record the whole process of riding, but also combine with third-party software to Speed, power, human heart rate, as well as local altitude, air pressure and many other data are displayed on the screen. This application is not limited to sports, even camping, self-driving, and even cooking can also enrich the recording effect, which is highly playable It will also help to ensure safety." said Wan Lu, a senior cycling enthusiast.
Wanlu said that consumers' awareness of sports products has increased significantly. As long as the products are good enough, they are not so sensitive to prices.
Therefore, both designers and manufacturers must pay more attention to the quality, appearance and brand tone of sports products, actively explore sub-categories, and effectively improve the market competitiveness of products.