Can a tent really bring poetry and distance?
Reporter investigates issues behind camping economy blowout
Our trainee reporter Zhang Shoukun
Our reporter Zhao Li
Put up tents in the park not far from home, lay out picnic mats, put food carefully, and then take pictures and send them to the circle of friends-this year's May Day holiday, Wu Qiang, who lives in Hefei, Anhui Province, chose to go camping with friends as usual. "Choose poetry and distance, get close to nature, and relax."
Wu Qiang found that on weekends and holidays, there are many tents in various parks in Hefei City, and adults and children have a lot of fun.
In the past two years, due to the impact of the epidemic, people's long-distance travel has been restricted, and camping has become popular.
On various social platforms, photos and notes related to camping have been swiped, and the total number of notes about "camping" on Xiaohongshu alone has exceeded 2 million.
The popularity of camping has led to the development of the camping economy.
According to Ctrip's latest "Spring Travel Trend Report", the search volume of camping products in Ctrip stations has recently 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, of which parent-child travel accounts for 45%. %.
However, a reporter from Rule of Law Daily found that the hardware and software facilities behind the "camping craze" have not kept up. For example, the infrastructure of some camping sites is not perfect, and issues such as garbage disposal, toilet construction, and open fire barbecues have attracted attention. In addition, tent construction , outdoor protection, emergency management and other knowledge has not been popularized.
Many experts interviewed by reporters suggested that relevant departments should issue camping industry standards as soon as possible to regulate sanitary conditions, travel safety, supporting services, etc., and comprehensively improve the compliance of the camping industry; camping businesses should establish a relatively complete hierarchical management system. , provide necessary medical services, and formulate early warning mechanisms for weather and special environments; camping enthusiasts should strictly abide by relevant regulations and enhance environmental protection awareness.
Get close to nature and relax
Backcountry camping is all the rage
Wang Gang, a resident of Xiqing District, Tianjin, noticed that in the past two months, Duliu Jianhe, which he used to frequent, suddenly caught fire.
Duliujianhe is located in the suburbs, with good scenery and fresh air, but because it is far from the city, few people usually come.
Today, it has become a "resort" for Tianjin citizens on weekends, frequently appearing on social platforms, and has become a "net celebrity" camping check-in point.
"Basically every few meters there is a tent, hammock and picnic mat, where you can fish, stay in a daze, and ride a pony," said Wang Gang.
The reporter found on multiple social platforms that various camping treasures have been "picked out" by people. Even if few people knew about it before, as long as a note was "exposed", a large number of people immediately went to check in.
According to the "2021 Z Generation Camping Social White Paper", among the current camping groups, "post-95s" account for the highest proportion, accounting for about 32.8% of the total number.
Behind the huge enthusiasm of consumers for camping is considerable consumption potential and new business opportunities, and the camping economy is emerging.
The reporter found in Tianyancha that there are currently more than 50,000 camping-related companies in my country. The total number of registered camping-related companies has continued to soar in the past three years, and more than 20,000 companies have been established within one year.
Based on industrial and commercial registration, the newly registered camping-related enterprises in 2021 will increase by more than 140% year-on-year.
According to data from an e-commerce platform, from January to March this year, the turnover of camping equipment such as large tents, canopies, folding tables and chairs, sleeping bags, etc., more than doubled year-on-year.
On April 23, the reporter came to a sports goods supermarket in Hedong District, Tianjin, and saw several outdoor tents, outdoor folding chairs, sleeping bags and so on.
The price of these tents ranges from a few hundred yuan to several thousand yuan, and the price of other camping equipment ranges from tens of yuan to thousands of yuan.
According to the supermarket staff, it is the first time in the past two years that camping-related utensils are put out for publicity. In the past two months, more people have come to inquire and buy than usual, most of them are young people and people with Parents with children.
Why is the camping economy suddenly on fire this year?
Zhang Jing, a lecturer at Hulunbuir College, analyzed that due to the normalized prevention and control of the epidemic, surrounding tours and self-driving tours have become the first choices for people to travel, while camping largely conforms to the characteristics of "surroundings" and "self-driving", satisfying people's leisure and closeness to nature. demand.
"Camping can reduce stress, relax mood, and improve people's quality of life and happiness. Especially parent-child camping is conducive to enhancing family intimacy and promoting harmonious family relationships. In terms of social and economic benefits, camping can also improve transportation, catering and other tourism. related consumption." Zhang Jing said.
Ancillary facilities failed to follow up
Camping literacy needs to be improved
However, behind the rapid warming of the camping economy, the reality of camping enthusiasts may not be exactly happiness.
For Zhao Hong, a resident of Shenzhen, Guangdong province, a camping in the suburbs in early April this year was a "disaster".
Before camping, Zhao Hong deliberately did a lot of "homework", and chose a "net celebrity" campsite in the suburbs.
But when she arrived after driving for more than an hour, she was dumbfounded: not only did she have to pay a venue fee of 50 yuan and a parking fee of 20 yuan, but also the infrastructure here is not perfect, there is no toilet, and no one cleans up the garbage generated by other tourists.
Zhao Hong's experience is not an isolated case.
The reporter's investigation found that many scenic spots do not have camping conditions at present, the scale and quality of some camping sites are uneven, and the knowledge of tent construction, outdoor protection, and emergency management has not been popularized.
In addition, some camping enthusiasts also have irregular behaviors. For example, some people choose to park their RVs in places with good scenery in order to "escape" the related costs of camping sites, or camp in park green spaces and seaside lawns where camping is prohibited, which is not only harmful to the environment. It has caused damage and affected the normal life of local residents.
"It is definitely not appropriate to camp in a place with a clear sign prohibiting camping." Zhang Jing said that according to the relevant provisions of the Civil Code, if it causes pollution or affects the normal life of local residents, it should be responsible for compensation for losses and elimination of nuisances.
Depending on the object, method and degree of harm, the camper may also bear criminal responsibility.
According to He Xiaojiao, associate professor of Liaoning Institute of Technology, as a new tourism industry model, the evaluation standards for the camping industry have not yet been perfected, the related laws and regulations have not yet been formed, and consumers have not developed good camping literacy. If these problems cannot be solved in time , which may eventually lead to "fishing out of ponds".
The introduction of camping industry standards
Establish a hierarchical management system
How to regulate the hot camping tide?
A number of interviewed experts suggested that a combination of dredging and blocking should be adopted to not only meet the needs of people for leisure and entertainment, but also consider the carrying capacity of parks and green spaces, and adopt reasonable and standardized measures to protect this lifestyle close to nature.
"Faced with the high demand for camping by tourists, on the one hand, relevant departments should actively revitalize idle public resources, rationally regulate land use, use the advantages of natural resources such as waters and forests to build campgrounds to increase supply, and conduct standardized management; on the other hand, they should fully Use big data to guide traffic to avoid crowds and road congestion," said Qi Xiaobo, assistant director of the Tourism Research Center of the Institute of Geographical Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In addition, Qi Xiaobo believes that relevant departments should issue industry standards for different types of camping such as car camping and tent camping as soon as possible, regulate sanitary conditions, travel safety, supporting services, etc., and comprehensively improve the compliance of the camping industry; Persons and events that damage environmental civilization, environmental sanitation, and the image of civilization shall be restrained and managed in a timely manner. If the circumstances are particularly serious, the local comprehensive tourism law enforcement department shall be coordinated with uncivilized behaviors such as "parking RVs at will" and "littering". The screen is captured and exposed.
The reporter combed and found that in recent years, many places have issued relevant regulations for camping behavior.
For example, Shanghai issued the "Specifications for the Construction and Service of Commercial Tent Camps", which put forward specific requirements on the basic conditions of tent camps, camp construction and basic services for tourists, special services, and supporting services; Hunan Province issued "Camping Activities Organization Services" Specifications", which stipulates the overall requirements, preliminary organization, destination services, safety management, service evaluation, etc. of camping activities.
However, the reporter interviewed many camping enthusiasts and found that they knew very little about these policies and regulations.
In this regard, Wang Tianxing, member of the Legal Expert Committee of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and deputy director of the Cultural Tourism Policy and Regulation Center of Beijing International Studies University, suggested that relevant departments can popularize the safety knowledge of wild camping through new media social platforms, do a good job in publicity work, and guide the public to pay attention to it. Outdoor safety.
In terms of campsite management, Zhang Jing believes that the campsite should establish a relatively complete hierarchical management system, provide necessary medical services, formulate an early warning mechanism for weather and special environments, and provide campers with knowledge of camping safety and environmental protection.
"Businesses should strictly abide by the relevant regulations on camping and manage tourists reasonably. They should also enhance the safety of scenic spots and set up more emergency supplies and camping areas to meet the needs of tourists." He Xiaojiao said that camping may become a long-term stable business in the future. However, it faces many challenges, such as camping is greatly affected by seasons and weather, it is difficult to carry out in winter, and camping management is relatively difficult. Therefore, stable camping requires not only relatively complete legal regulations, but also the function of the rule of law. All regions actively implement policies, improve regulations and strictly enforce them.
(Wu Qiang, Wang Gang, and Zhao Hong are all pseudonyms in the text)