On different occasions and through different channels, we always hear and see more or less about how developed the caravan and camping industry is in Europe, the United States, Australia, and even our neighbors Japan and South Korea. “Tens of thousands of campsites, Tens of millions of participants every year”, many tourists are not like traditional scenic spot tourists, who come once and will never go again in this lifetime, but will go many times over and over again. So why are camps popular in these areas, and what is their core appeal?
The nature of the tourism industry
The tourism industry emerges to meet the needs of tourism activities, and in turn promotes the further development of tourism activities. Therefore, how to make the development of the tourism industry fully meet the growing demand for tourism is not only an important theoretical issue, but also a The practical problems that urgently need to be solved. Most of the previous review and analysis of China’s tourism development focused on purely cultural and historical perspectives, but rarely analyzed from the economic level. Tourism is essentially a social and economic phenomenon, and it is also It is the economy of tourism that determines the breadth and depth of tourism culture and other related attributes, especially as an important industry sector, what is the development trend of tourism in my country, especially in the context of the rapid development of tourism industry today? The participants in each link are very concerned. In our country, it is impossible to completely follow the western tourism development model, nor can we close the shackles in the existing traditional model. Instead, we must have a correct estimate and judgment on the development trend of the tourism industry. .
Experts from various countries in the world have different expressions on the core nature of tourism, but there is an obvious consensus: the essence of tourism is to meet the needs of people’s spiritual world, which has a strong cultural nature, and its economic nature is only a derivative of helping to meet these needs. out branch. The actual promotion process should be a balanced promotion of various attributes. An influential and well-run scenic spot and camp must take into account economic, social and cultural aspects.
Several core features of camp tourism:
Based on the above analysis of the core nature of tourism, it is not difficult to draw several main core features of camp tourism.
1. Camp tourism is a trip that human beings take in their leisure time in society
In addition to the natural living space, time is also a linear space for human development. In this linear space, human activity time is mainly divided into labor time and free time, and the travel that is distributed in the labor time and free time categories exists. Yes, obviously those trips during working hours are not tourism, that is productive labor. Tourism in leisure and free time definitely exists, such as those activities of visiting mountains and rivers, which is also the consensus of the academic circle; therefore, there are tourism activities in both categories of free time. In this way, we bring tourism into a qualitative change in the social time of human beings, and tourism is the travel of human beings in the free time of society.
Camp tourism is travel for human consumption
From the perspective of the economic attributes of travel, camp travel should include four basic types: production, distribution, exchange, and consumption. Tourism is equivalent to moving the activities in the place of residence to a different place, which requires a lot of consumption to meet its own needs. We have seen that camp tourism is consumptive, and consumption is the fundamental attribute of the economic attributes of tourism. The other three processes of travel belong to the category of production activities or commercial activities, and should be called “production travel” and “commercial travel” respectively. Their purpose is to create value and profit, which is different from consumer tourism. Therefore, tourism is consumer travel. The consumption of tourism is also generally accepted by the academic circles. From the perspective of the economic attributes of travel, the travels that humans do in free time are not all tourism, because there are also productive and commercial travels in free time, and only those travels that take consumption as the fundamental economic attribute belong to the category of tourism .
3. Camp tourism is a journey in which human beings pursue social and cultural differences
As analyzed above, the pursuit of social and cultural differences in travel is one of its basic attributes, and it is also one of the basic attributes of tourism. From the perspective of free time and consumption of tourism, although the things acquired by tourism include material and spiritual things, they are more spiritual, that is, spiritual culture. The main purpose of tourism is to pursue “pleasure”, which just emphasizes Spiritual and cultural connotation of tourism.
4. Camp tourism is an in-depth participation activity that pursues the return of the soul to the essence of nature
The biggest difference between camping tourism and traditional sightseeing tourism is that traditional sightseeing tourism is basically an activity that cannot be deeply participated in. Most tourists basically come and see and then leave. Will come again, the demand is only satisfied that I have been here, take a few photos, and will not stay to enter the real local life reflected in the scenic spot, camp tourism is different, coming from a country with a developed camp industry abroad Look, why Americans and Europeans love camps so much, they will go to the same camp many times in their lives. From a very young age, they follow their parents to participate in various activities in the camp and learn how to do it in nature To accomplish some things, such as setting up tents, hands-on barbecue, how to self-install RV, watching the starry sky with family and friends, hiking, cross-country, biking through the forest, boating on a quiet lake, etc. This kind of experience brings people the feeling of escaping from real life and returning to nature.
5. The characteristics of the light construction of the camp determine that the camp tourism is different from the comfort-oriented consumption mode of the city and traditional scenic spots
The construction of the camp has obvious characteristics of respecting nature, maintaining ecology, respecting the original geographical features, and ignoring construction. Therefore, in the construction process of the camp, it is rare to set up a variety of relatively luxurious things such as five-star hotels and large-scale comprehensive activities. Buildings, such as gymnasiums, sports grounds, cinemas, etc., basically use smaller buildings to realize these functions, such as integrated buildings, wooden houses, container buildings, large tents, etc., and the way of living is apart from guests In addition to the RVs brought by myself and the RVs configured in the camp, most of them are solved by moving wooden houses, containers, tents, tents, etc. The characteristics of these products determine that the living space is small and cramped, which is not very comfortable. features. Therefore, the camp emphasizes integrating into nature, and living is only a matter of meeting basic needs.
The Core Attraction of a Chinese Camp
Judging from the history of the development of various industries in my country in the past, most of them have to go through a process of localization in China, and camp tourism is the same. Through a large number of examples, we believe that investing in the construction and operation of camps in China should try to Focus on the following aspects.
1. Emphasis on the construction of business project content, and light on investment in heavy facilities
Judging from the camps that have been built in China, many camps will invest huge sums of money in the initial stage to build a large-scale comprehensive service center and build exquisite and beautiful landscape facilities. After the completion, the passenger flow is often scarce and the operation is difficult. This situation usually ignores the core needs of tourists. At present, the people who are interested in the camp in China are mainly middle-class families. In the early days, the camp is a novelty, and housing Cars, wooden houses, tents, etc. are all for experience, but due to the characteristics of the product itself, guests will feel that the living experience is not good, so they will not come again in the future, but the essence of the camp is to supplement the living experience. and surrounding projects.
2. Emphasis on excavating projects with unique resource characteristics and building personalized camps
In the actual operation process, in addition to the basic infrastructure, great efforts have been made in the activities of the camp, adding various sports and leisure, expansion, exploration, parent-child activities, hiking, children’s non-powered playgrounds, etc., combined with Its own characteristics and resources make the inherent characteristics and themes of this camp, and the project increases participation and experience as much as possible, so that tourists will build a sense of belonging and come to spend many times.
3. Chinese and foreign markets are different, and the focus of camp operations should be adjusted accordingly
Judging from the actual situation, European and American markets have a huge number of RVs. Therefore, camps in Europe and the United States do not need to buy a large number of RVs for tourists to live in. Therefore, it is only necessary to build camps and prepare water and electricity piles. However, domestic As of the end of 2015, the number of RVs in China was only 30,000. Therefore, it is impossible to make profits by simply renting out camps in the early days of Chinese camps. It must increase the proportion of various projects and use various activities to make money. To support the operation, due to China’s large land area, vast territory, rich resources of various types, especially the large population, well-developed public transportation, a huge number of self-driving cars and a high proportion of self-driving travel, therefore, to carry out corresponding operations based on these characteristics will definitely Have better income.
4. The mentality of Chinese and foreign tourism consumers is different, and providing high-quality services is the key
European and American tourists have received various hands-on ability training since childhood, and they have a strong self-help ability. Therefore, in many relatively large camps in Europe, there are usually only a few camp management personnel. Most of the camp rental, RV parking Cars, laundry, facility rental, catering, etc., tourists will solve it by themselves by inserting coins and swiping cards. In addition, the cost of personnel in Europe and the United States is very high, so there is no need for a management team with many people. In China, Chinese people emphasize The awareness of being served, although willing to enjoy the natural and ecological scenery, but hope that service personnel can appear at any time in many links and provide meticulous and thoughtful services. Therefore, the management team of domestic campsites must be sufficient. How to communicate with The coordination of operating costs also needs to be considered by operators.
