[Industry] Invigorating the domestic camp market requires light assets first

Camping tourism refers to not relying on traditional artificial facilities such as fixed houses. Tourists bring their own equipment by self-driving or on foot, or use equipment in specific campsites to carry out outdoor accommodation, leisure, entertainment, training, exploration, investigation, etc. A new type of tourism and leisure activities. Camping tourism sprouted and developed in my country at the beginning of the 21st century. After more than ten years of accumulation, it has entered a stage of rapid development in recent years. From the initial leisure tourism activities with only a small number of professional enthusiasts participating, it has gradually become a popular tourism method. Then How to choose, design and plan a “profitable” campsite is a matter of great concern to practitioners in the industry.

status quo

According to statistics from relevant agencies, in 2017, the development of China’s campsite industry ushered in a golden period of rapid development. The total number of campsites exceeded 500. By 2018, nearly 800 campsites had been built, and the number of campsites increased significantly. According to statistics from relevant agencies, as of December 31, 2017, the number of RVs in the domestic market reached 69,432, of which 20,832 were sold in 2017. Compared with 2016, the number of RVs in 2016 was 48,600 and the sales volume was 18,600. The sales in 2017 increased by 12% compared with 2016 (the data listed by the author comes from the Internet). Judging from the data, both the RV and camping industries are showing a good situation, with rapid development and optimistic market prospects.

attraction

At the end of the day, behind the booming RV and camping industry is people’s love for this form of travel. Staying in a luxury hotel can enjoy star treatment, experience meticulous service and a warm and comfortable accommodation environment; staying in an express hotel is economical and convenient, and is popular among business people; staying in a characteristic homestay is quite petty bourgeois and close to nature. However, in the tourism market for many years, these conventional accommodation methods have felt boring and lack of freshness. Therefore, although the environment is relatively difficult compared with other accommodation options, the camping life that is closer to nature also makes many tourists who are looking for novelty shine. This is the fun of camping. Once you experience camping, you will be obsessed with it. RV camping is relatively more convenient and the accommodation conditions are more comfortable, that is, you can travel with your own “house” on your back. Many people think that if you don’t go to the real

The real nature, that is, the so-called camping in the wilderness is not real camping, but the facts are not entirely true. Camping also requires gradual training, gradual adaptation, from low to high, from simple to difficult, especially with children. When going camping, it is necessary to do a good job of preliminary investigation, make sufficient preparations, and avoid risks.

audience

According to relevant statistics, Beijing is the city with the most caravan users in the domestic market, accounting for 16% of the total caravan market users, followed by Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Shandong, and Liaoning, accounting for 6%~8% of the population , followed by Hebei, Henan, Anhui, Hubei, and Sichuan, with the population accounting for 2% to 5%. Therefore, in China’s current RV market, apart from the capital, people in coastal cities are the most concerned, followed by central China. The understanding of RV in other regions is still relatively weak. With the vigorous promotion of the domestic RV and camping industry, RV and camping tourism Patterns are gaining popularity rapidly. The age distribution characteristics of the camping crowd. At present, the most concerned group of RVs is 40-49 years old.

It accounts for 34.8% of all people, followed by people aged 50-59 and people aged 30-39, accounting for 28.4% and 21.6% respectively, people aged 20-29 account for 9.1%, and other people account for 6.1%. The main group of people in China is still mainly people over 40 years old, and secondly, young people aged 20-29 are also gradually paying attention to lifestyles such as RV travel.

(Proportion of camping groups by age group)

“Light” pack

Judging from the actual situation, the current main way of domestic camping tourism is self-driving + tent camping or pure tent camping. In addition to wooden houses, RVs, and high-end tent accommodation products in domestic camps, suitable accommodation is provided by the camp. The venue, and then tourists come here by car, and camping with their own tents has become a popular mode at present. From the perspective of the overall environment, the potential profit margins in the camping market are undoubtedly huge. Not only that, but the audience of camping sites is also showing a trend of continuous expansion. But what is surprising is that during interviews with several camps, I learned that the benefits of the camps are not as impressive as imagined. The reason is that most of the camps in China currently exist in the form of heavy assets, and hundreds of millions of investment are often invested to build heavy asset camps with diversified accommodation units, such as fixed buildings, wooden houses, camp RVs, containers, etc. What’s more, the camp has been turned into a resort, and the construction and return period are very long. The lack of professional talents in operation and maintenance makes the camp owner miserable. With these not-so-successful cases, later people also learned some lessons from them, so they turned their attention to the asset-light camp.

Asset-light camps cannot be equated with small-scale camps, nor are they low-quality camps. Asset-light camps are characterized by having no or very few accommodation units, and at the same time supporting a small number of services and recreational facilities. After the infrastructure is built, we will do little decoration in combination with the environment, focus on natural scenery and outdoor experience, and bring in profits by providing material supplies or organizing activities, etc., and shorten the return period in a low-investment way, so that the camp can be landed as soon as possible And into the market mode.

Asset-light camps account for a high proportion in foreign countries, mainly because the model has small investment and quick results, and is favored by camp investment and construction parties. It is also the prototype of the self-driving camp model in China. From the actual statistical data, 80% of the campsites in China have set up special tent camping areas, and the actual operation effect is also more popular with tourists.

epilogue

It has to be said that the campground market has been booming in recent years, and the number of campsites has increased significantly year by year, which is enough to explain the problem. However, before blindly entering the campsite industry, the most important thing for investors to consider is the issue of campsite positioning. The development process of the camping industry should be a gradual transformation from asset-light to heavy-asset, rather than blind investment overnight. The profitability of campsites has gradually become a pain in the camping industry. Asset-light seems to be a good medicine to solve this problem.