Camping new and old groups are easily fascinated by part of the camping process experience, which is the unique value of camping.
Wen / Ba Jiu Ling
As a relatively niche enthusiast of outdoor sports, Xiaoba was surprised to find that in recent times, a large number of media have also talked about the topic of camping, and more and more people around them have also begun to camp.
Eleven was finally over, and Mao Mao let out a sigh from her heart, she herself did not know whether it was happy or unhappy.
Throughout the National Day holiday, she and her boyfriend took their dogs, almost either at camping camp or on their way to camping.
She said that she always felt a little guilty about the dog, and usually went to work every day to walk the dog in the community, so she took advantage of the holiday to take the dog to the mountain forest to camp, spread the rope, and let it play for a few days.
Dogs don't know if they are in pain, but people do hurt.
After returning home from the first camp, she lay at home for a whole day, unable to eat: "It is really like lying corpses, motionless." ”
But the next day, Mao Mao repacked the trunk and camping equipment in the back of the car and set off.
This National Day holiday, there are countless people like Mao Mao, who have embarked on a camping trip for various reasons. Even if there is no camping, this National Day must have participated in at least one "cloud camping" in the circle of friends.
A set of data better attests to the popularity of camping:
◎ According to the data of Qyyou.com, in 2020, the popularity of camping increased by 303.5%;
Source: Poor travel network "will play the Chinese: 2020 outbound tourist crowd play domestic guide"
◎ According to sam's cloud home data launched in June this year, the sales of camping products increased by more than 100% month-on-month, and camping products such as folding chairs, outdoor mosquito lamps, and Dutch pots were all selling well.
◎ Suning Tesco big data shows that in the three days before the National Day, the sales of camping equipment increased by 76% year-on-year. For example, the sales of the highly sought after "canopy" tent in recent days increased by 178% year-on-year, and the sales of picnic mats increased by 58% year-on-year.
◎ There are 21,000 campground-related enterprises in China, more than 70% of which were established in the past year or so. In contrast, only 3100 new scripts will kill related companies in 2020.
Camping, which was originally a very niche outdoor sport, suddenly rushed like a heat wave, involving "outsiders" like Mao Mao one by one.
At the same time, they have a new name: glamping.
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Camping has always been a laborious and expensive activity.
Uncle Burn is the founder of the Boundless Living Room Outdoor Community, with a population of nearly 5,000 people. He had been camping for at least three years, and his footprints had traveled almost all of the North.
During the National Day period, the total cost of uncle Lie's family of five camping for five days is about 20,000 yuan, which does not include the 40,000-50,000 yuan that has been invested in camping equipment that has been purchased before. This is basically the entry threshold for traditional camping.
Uncle Lie believes that camping is close to our understanding of traditional camping:
Camping is about abandoning the lifestyle of the city where you can stretch out your hands and eat, and overcome all kinds of inconveniences.
For example, camping must solve the basic problem of eating and drinking Lasa. If you want to eat better, campers have to prepare ingredients a day in advance and bring a freezer to ensure that the food does not deteriorate. Going to the toilet is also a problem, either digging a pit in the ground or finding a hidden place to solve it. As for comfortable clothes and a bath, basically don't even think about it.
In this process, campers must also have many skills and knowledge points that are close to the original survival, such as: how to choose a site to guard against safety hazards caused by extreme weather, how to heat and cook in the wild to prevent fires, and so on.
This is obviously not acceptable to most travelers. As a result, under the influence of this type of traditional camper, the so-called "exquisite camping" consumers were born. The two groups are obviously not completely opposite, but penetrate each other and influence each other, thus detonating the entire track.
A large part of the catalyst for consumer demand is camping photos posted by campers on social platforms. They also want to experience it once — like making a dinner in the city, jumping around, playing a script, but they don't have to pay too much sunk costs to buy equipment.
Exquisite camping
A person in charge of Ctrip's camping program told minibuses that they had observed this sharp increase in demand early last year: the new camping consumers were different from previous years and preferred a "bag-in" experience. Furthermore, even just need to take pictures of the punch card experience, "at night I don't want to live in the tent, just use all these designed scenes here during the day to take pictures and punch cards." He said when referring to the situation of his friends around him.
This need seems to have a natural social nature, and camping happens to be met.
According to the 2021 Gen Z Camping Social White Paper, 78% of post-95s said that new friends they made in camping got along longer.
Specifically, camping offers a scene where the whole family, young and old, can do their own thing, or at least an imaginary scenario where if several families camp together, children can spread out in the wilderness and adults are busy setting up tents and cooking. Everyone borrowed supplies from each other, helped each other, and got together at night to eat and drink, and the wild wind was slightly drunk.
This is exactly what Mao Mao aspires to: "We now want to go camping in relatively extreme weather, if there is snow and rain will be particularly curable, sitting in a tent and chatting with friends, drinking coffee and watching the scenery." 」 ”
But in general, camping new and old groups are easily fascinated by some of the parts of the camping process, which is the unique value of camping.
It allows us to regain a more complete truth about life —
"Listening to the waves in a daze is healing, camping doesn't have to be too perfect." A new xiaohongshu user who invested 20,000 yuan to go camping at the beach with 20,000 yuan thought about it and said to the minibus.
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If there is anyone who is more mixed than camping consumers, it is the practitioners of camping.
Based on the emerging consumption phenomenon of the camping market, the entire camping industry has also become a new virgin land.
According to Tianyancha data, more than 60% of camping-related enterprises were established after 2020.
Image source: Sky Eye Data Research Institute
The traditional camping industry is entrepreneurial, mainly focusing on the design, production and sales of camping equipment. Nowadays, the internal differentiation and refinement of the camping equipment suppliers, the campsite rental party (providing infrastructure such as venues), the operation service provider (procurement of equipment, the creation and service projects) and other enterprises began to rise.
◎ Camping equipment market
Because the camping activities are relatively niche, the scale and growth rate of the domestic camping equipment market have always been relatively limited.
Taking the design, production and sales of camping tents, outdoor clothing and other domestic head companies - A-share listed company Mu Gaudi as an example, its perennial export revenue accounts for about 70%. From 2018 to 2019, the revenue of domestic sales channels was about 150 million yuan, and the growth rate was negative.
However, in 2020, its growth rate turned from negative to positive, and the revenue in the first half of 2021 reached 123 million yuan (equivalent to the sum of 2018 and 2019), a sharp increase of 86.53%.
However, due to the fact that the previous industry products were generally relatively low-end, when the consumer group of "exquisite camping" rose, it created a new demand for high-quality camping equipment, and the high-end camping equipment market was more imaginative.
For example, the price of traditional tents per roof ranges from a few hundred yuan to about 1,000 yuan, and there are certain aesthetic and styling characteristics, which can make people have an "aesthetic pleasure" generally need 2,000-4,000 yuan, and the price of foreign big brands is 8,000-10,000 yuan.
According to an industry insider, the only brands that made high-end tents in 2018 were foreign brands. Since last year, many domestic tent companies have begun to enter this market. At present, there are more than 34,000 tent-related enterprises in China, and the number of enterprises is similar to that of rare earth, 3D printing and other industries.
The optimization space of camping equipment is a very distinctive feature of this market. Uncle Lie told the minibus: "A little improvement, the premium is very high." "For example, a small lamp, the starting price is about 300 yuan a, but for personalization, the completion of auxiliary accessories may require thousands of yuan of investment."
Source: Little Red Book user "Yao Yue's Fun Sharing": The optional equipment accounts for about one-third of the total equipment
◎ Camping site rental party
Secondly, campsite renters mainly build campsites and obtain income through campsite rentals. The group of tenants also includes B-end and C-end customers, and the market potential is large. Therefore, attract a large number of entrepreneurs to enter the market. The main obstacle at present is the large upfront cost investment.
Some campsite operators told the media that the input cost of a single camp is at least 1 million yuan. What can be supported by this statement is that according to the data of enterprise investigation, 71% of the registered capital of enterprises related to camping in China exceeded 1 million, and the registered capital of enterprises with a registered capital of more than 5 million accounted for 35%.
The specific issue is land auctions. According to Liu Hanqi, secretary general of the Self-driving Tour and Camping Caravan Branch of the China Tourist Vehicle and Boat Association, the majority of the camp investment is the cost of land, and investors need to go through the bidding, auction and hanging process to get land, and it is difficult to dilute the cost of land.
Since camping is a seasonal event, market demand is mainly concentrated in April and May and October and November. Nowadays, many campsites are developed from the transformation of farmhouses, mainly to reduce input costs.
◎ Operation service provider
In contrast, the entry threshold of operation service providers is not high, and the input cost is not large. Costs are generally reduced by renting camps. On the other hand, it is often possible to launch service products relatively quickly, occupy the market, achieve profitability, and form a complementary situation with the market where demand breaks out.
Taking Anji, a popular camping city in China, as an example, the annual rent of a general camp with an area of more than 10 acres is about 100,000 yuan; equipped with basic camping equipment such as tents of the corresponding level, the annual investment is 50,000 yuan.
A campground in Anji, Zhejiang (Source: Provided by camping practitioners)
The service items can refer to traditional farmhouses, such as barbecues, parent-child games, music evenings, etc., or provide some localized services (such as kayaking, rafting, etc.) in combination with the local natural environment, in addition to combining social rigid needs (such as education and training, etc.) to carry out some innovations and play a larger space.
In general, the input cost and difficulty will not be more expensive or greater than opening a milk tea shop (generally investing about 300,000-400,000 yuan).
Taking an education and training institution in Hangzhou known by minibuses, last year's transformation into a camping business operation service provider as an example, it adopts the business model of "camping + education", the service cycle is generally two days and one night, according to different courses, including 398 yuan, 598 yuan, 898 yuan and other grades of activities. Passenger flow is mainly concentrated on weekends and holidays, and the passenger flow on holidays can reach 100-200 people.
"Camping + Education" model (Source: Provided by camping practitioners)
Cedar, the founder of the education and training institution, revealed that last year's profit margin was close to 30%. However, subject to limited scale, the annual turnover is about 200,000 yuan. He believes that this is the current situation for most entrepreneurs in the same field. "Many institutions are mom-and-pop shops, most of them 'generate electricity with love', the primary driving force is still their own likes, most of them take this thing as a side business to do, reception capacity and reception volume is limited."
To describe the current industry situation in one sentence: most of the income is mainly eaten by the traditional camping equipment suppliers, and the campsite and camping operation service providers are both in the stage of "survival in the wilderness" and have a large space for play.
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In the current era of booming demand and entrepreneurial boom, these issues seem to be the most easily overlooked.
Outdoor projects, more or less, will have an impact on the environment. But many people are optimistic. For example, a camping enthusiast told the experience of minibuses: if the garbage can be taken away, if it is not casually lit, there is almost no disturbance to the environment. Moreover, the tent goes with the tying. He once went to a camp in rural Huizhou, and the head fee was 50 yuan per person, and the money was finally given to the local government department.
This may be the state of some traditional campers, as well as the standard of good sanitation and environmental management in some areas. But the minibus was not optimistic about the situation at the campsite.
Due to the abundant natural mountain water resources and relatively developed economy in the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai regions, the camping market is in a relatively leading position in the country, and to a certain extent, problems in health management and natural environmental protection may also be most thoroughly exposed.
The general camp is located in rural areas, and the lack of garbage classification management in rural areas requires the initiative to do garbage classification management, mainly divided into kitchen waste and non-kitchen waste, non-kitchen waste is generally transported to the bottom of the mountain, and kitchen waste is composted on the spot.
Since the camp is an operating unit, it is necessary to pay the relevant disposal fees to the local health management department. As it stands, many camps are still communicating with local health authorities about standards and other issues.
The serious problem is mainly the destruction of the original ecological vegetation. A Zhejiang entrepreneur told Xiaoba: "I worked with an Anji camp place before, because they were indiscriminately cutting down, destroying the surface vegetation, resulting in the ground being very bare, I was very angry when I saw it, so I directly terminated the cooperation with them." ”
The issue was also mentioned in a survey article in May, described as a worrying scene:
Almost everyone mentions Pinewood Lake with regret and sighs. Pine Forest Lake in Anji, there is a pine forest that grows by the lake, and the ground is covered with a thick layer of pine needles for many years, which is very beautiful. However, due to poor management and unlimited number of people, more and more campers have come here, and the pine needles on the ground have basically been stepped on, and the scenery has not been restored.
The existence of such problems is more common, and it is not in line with the current development concept of "green water and green mountains, that is, golden mountains and silver mountains". Therefore, the local government once adopted a strict "one-size-fits-all" measure.
For example, last year, the camping holy land "Xiaohangkeng", known as "Anji Little Switzerland", was closed for half a year; not long ago, all the Camps in Anji were closed for rectification for up to two months.
It is worth mentioning that on February 20 this year, the world luxury hotel brand Alila closed its doors at China's first resort hotel "Alila Anji Hotel" built in the Anji Fushi Reservoir, which was regarded by the industry as a landmark event of the government's determination to protect the environment.
Announcement by Hyatt Hotels Group Asia Pacific
Of course, this is a stage that the development of the outdoor sports industry will inevitably go through.
In the 1960s, the rise of outdoor sports in the United States also led to the destruction of natural and human resources. Until 1987, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service and the Land Administration jointly issued the "Traceless Mountain Forest Land Theory". What has since developed into the "minimum environmental impact" rule (using outdoor skills to affect the land, water, plants and animals in the natural environment as little as possible) has been in the process of popularization for decades.
In contrast, the popularization of environmental protection awareness of domestic outdoor sports is in its early stages. For example, minibuses have participated in outdoor hiking activities in Beijing and Hangzhou many times and found that the problem of littering on many hiking routes is still very prominent.
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At this stage, domestic camping activities still look relatively young. However, in the long run, many practitioners and investment institutions value the potential of the camping market.
According to data released by the American Outdoor Foundation and other institutions, from 2012 to 2019, the camping participation rate in the United States has been around 14%, reaching 15.8% in 2020. The number of participants in the camping ranges from 40 million to 50 million.
Participation rate of camping sports in the United States (Source: GF Securities Research Report)
Specifically, in 2017, the number of campers in the United States was 41.768 million people, the camping cost was 166.862 billion US dollars, and the per capita annual camping expenditure was 3995 US dollars, of which the market size of camping equipment was 31.271 billion US dollars, accounting for 18.74%.
GF Securities Research Report believes that with reference to the 2020 US camping participation rate estimates, China's potential camping population is 181 million people. With reference to the per capita annual camping expenditure in the United States in 2017 and the proportion of the camping equipment market, the potential camping market in China is as high as 407.5 billion US dollars, and the camping equipment market size is 76.3 billion US dollars.
This estimate seems overly exaggerated. However, the development of outdoor sports does have a certain relationship with per capita GDP. According to Analysys's "2018 Annual Comprehensive Analysis of the Digital Upgrading of China's Online Sports Market", when the per capita GDP exceeded $6,000, running became popular (around 2012), and when it exceeded $8,000, the number of participants in cycling and skiing began to increase (after 2015).
—— In 2019, China's per capita GDP exceeded 10,000 US dollars. From this point of view, the rise of camping fever may not be surprising.
With the vast 9.6 million square kilometers of Land in China scattered with countless beautiful scenery waiting to be discovered, it seems a bit exciting to imagine the future of the outdoor sports market.
Author | Limpo | Wu Runqian | When the value is edited | Li Mengqing
Responsible Editor | He Mengfei | Editor-in-Chief | Zheng Yuanmei