This spring, camping seems to have "turned out" and has become the most popular way of leisure and vacation.
In the past May Day holiday, tent camping has set off an upsurge. Fliggy data shows that the number of camping orders during the May Day holiday has increased by more than 350% month-on-month.
Not only that, the camping fever has also spawned the camping economy, including tourism enterprises, scenic spots and outdoor equipment, etc., and has a driving effect on the destination tourism economy.
So, where did the "screening" camping in the circle of friends and social media come from, and where will it go in the future?
Driven by camping tourism, which industries will achieve long-term development?
What are the shortcomings of the current domestic camping industry, and is there any mature experience in the world that can be used for reference?
Regarding the origin, current situation and future development of camping tourism, the Beijing News Shell Finance reporter interviewed Wei Xiang, a researcher and professor at the Institute of Financial and Economic Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Camping, which appeared with international mass leisure tourism in the 1970s
Camping has changed from a professional and professional form to leisure tourism.
Beijing News: Camping is suddenly popular this year, but it is not "turned out". As a leisure method and leisure culture, where did camping originate?
Wei Xiang: Camping, as a form of leisure, has its past and present.
The basis of camping is the rise of international mass tourism.
From the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, foreign specialized tourism emerged, or special tourism, such as adventure tourism, and camping also appeared.
It can be said that the first generation of camping is a camping camp born in response to niche outdoor adventures.
In the second stage, camping began to move from a professional and professional form to leisure tourism.
Camping at this stage is not so technically challenging. It mainly grows with the increase of hiking crowds, but it is still a relatively professional and niche leisure method.
About 30 years ago, foreign leisure and vacation tourism gradually matured, and camping entered the third stage, which became an alternative demand for ordinary people's vacation accommodation.
So far, these three stages of camping have not replaced one generation, but coexisted, and their consumer groups are mainly divided into two categories, one is professional outdoor sports groups, and the other is family parent-child groups.
Accelerate the survival of the fittest in small and medium-sized tourism enterprises, and help the long-term development of the outdoor leisure industry
At present, the domestic camping market is developing explosively.
Beijing News: Some people in the industry believe that the popularity of domestic camping is just a "flash in the pan" under the influence of the epidemic. What do you think?
Wei Xiang: Compared with international camping markets such as Europe, America and Japan, domestic camping tourism has crossed the first and second stages, and directly enters the third stage, namely mass leisure camping tourism, which is mainly related to the leisure preferences of domestic consumers. related.
Although domestic camping tourism has crossed the stage, it has not crossed the logic. It is still based on mass tourism, that is, with the rise of domestic mass tourism, camping tourism has emerged.
At present, the academic community generally believes that domestic mass tourism began to mature from 2000 to 2010. In the following 10-15 years, China's leisure tourism began to sprout, and the first batch of camping tourism was born, including tent hotels, RV camps and now Hot individual camping.
The domestic camping market has two distinct characteristics. One is the blowout development, especially in the last six months, and the other is the very fast upgrading.
This is indeed related to the epidemic, but it needs to be emphasized that the epidemic is not the trigger for the popularity of domestic camping tourism, but only a combustion accelerant-that is to say, even if there is no epidemic, the domestic camping market is also at a trigger point.
In the past two or three years, domestic tent hotels and RV camps have already had a good foundation, but the promotion of mass camping has accelerated, which has caused consumer demand to blow out during the epidemic.
Beijing News: The camping market is booming, which industries have it driven, and does it have long-term advantages?
Wei Xiang: Recently, the booming camping market has indeed driven the development of many industries, but I think there are two types of industries that have long-term advantages.
First, as a trigger point, camping will promote the survival of the fittest in domestic small and medium-sized tourism enterprises, eliminate a large number of tourism enterprises that do standardized traditional businesses, and accelerate the transformation of some small and medium-sized tourism enterprises that do clubs or professional operations.
Second, camping will drive the long-term development of the leisure equipment industry.
The domestic leisure equipment industry has been restrained by demand and has not erupted.
In fact, leisure tourism is also developing, but the early stage of camping, such as RV camps, can indeed drive high-end manufacturing, but the audience is too small and the demand is not enough.
The mass camping has overcome the previous shortcomings, and catered to the domestic mass consumption and large-scale market effects, thus triggering the development of outdoor leisure equipment.
At the same time, China has strong production capacity in manufacturing, especially in terminal manufacturing.
Therefore, the combination of supply and demand has long-term advantages.
Don't blindly make it bigger, it is more reasonable to operate camping in different areas and locations
Beijing News: Camping suddenly became popular, but it also caused some problems, including forestry safety, public green space conservation, and environmental protection.
What shortcomings and chaos do you think exist in the current camping market?
Wei Xiang: After the camp fire, it also caused some problems, such as safety, environmental protection and other public management issues.
The top priority at present is the relevant economies of the camping economy. Whether it is a park, a campsite or a tent hotel, don’t just think about making money, but also do a good job of environmental protection, set a good distribution mechanism, and especially do a good job of pre-planning and pre-supervision.
Camping companies must learn from the experience and lessons of shared bicycles. There are similarities between the two, because camping sites also involve the problem of occupying public resources.
If the government and related agencies do not set prices and standards for public land in the early stage, enterprises will enter excessively, treat public land as a free resource and overuse it, and add costs and supervise it afterwards, which will bring unexpected cost increases to enterprises , and finally overwhelmed the developed enterprises.
Therefore, if camping operators want to develop in the long run, they must do a good job of pre-cost planning.
Regarding the international camping experience, we must learn from it and discard it.
The camping model in Europe and the United States is large-scale RV campsites, but according to the characteristics of China’s natural resources, our environmental regulations will be very strict. Therefore, it is very difficult to build large-scale tent hotels, tents, and RV camps in China.
In the domestic market, camping is not suitable for scale, because it is highly dependent on the environment and is an environmentally fragile industry. Large-scale camping in China is a decentralized operation based on large demand.
Everyone likes camping, and the overall demand can be very large, but in terms of operation, it should be small-scale or sub-regional and sub-location.
We need to learn from the experience of the international camping market, but also know that large-scale camping development and operation is not desirable.
Beijing News: How should camping develop in depth in the future, instead of just staying in the stage of taking pictures and punching cards?
Wei Xiang: For the future development of domestic camping, we must first respect the laws and return to common sense. Camping is a leisure business based on mass tourism, and there are two major development directions in the future.
One is to develop in the direction of specialization and niche, such as adventure clubs and extreme sports clubs. The camping products they provide are high-priced and high-tech, and they have a small group that is solidified and has a very high rate of return.
Second, camping should not be seen as "camping +", but "+ camping".
Camping itself is a kind of extended accommodation. From this perspective, camping is the same as homestay. The current predicament of homestay development has just become "homestay +", but in essence it should be "+ homestay" - we are traveling In the process of research, study and vacation, it is necessary to change the way of accommodation, such as staying in a hotel for two days, staying in a homestay for two days, and camping for one night.
In essence, camping and homestays are supporting facilities, which are a kind of support, replacement and early adopter for mass tourism and national leisure. Therefore, the future development trend of camping is to keep up with the outbreak of mass leisure demand, and at the same time, it can also develop well.
At present, some economies with relatively mature camping development in the world can give ready reference suggestions to help us combine camping with self-driving and outdoor activities.
For example, some national parks have set up legal camps to indicate where camping is allowed and where camping is not allowed; strengthen campsite management, with regular staff patrols to ensure the safety of camps; improve public services, such as night lighting, basic water and electricity supplies, etc.
Beijing News Shell Finance reporter Qu Xiaoyi