The 2024 Outdoor Participation Trends Report shows that in 2023, 175.8 million Americans (57.3% of those aged 6 and older) participated in outdoor recreational activities. With the rise of emerging markets such as China and India, the outdoor products industry will continue to grow rapidly in 2024.
The above data shows that the future camping industry has huge growth potential. Now is a great opportunity to start investing in it! This article will help you understand the industry’s growth, trends, and challenges.
Camping Market Demand Growth
The demand for the traditional camping market has surged. Urban people have long been facing work pressure and fast-paced life, and have a strong desire to escape the city and get close to nature. How do consumer preferences drive this market? What are the subdivisions of this camping market?
Consumer Preferences Drive the Market
With the upgrading of consumption and the popularization of the concept of healthy living, consumer preferences are undergoing a significant change. This change has created a huge market demand for the camping industry. In modern society, urban residents list “returning to nature and relaxing” as the primary demand for vacation. Therefore, the camping industry is no longer limited to basic outdoor survival experience, but is developing in a diversified and personalized direction.
Young consumer groups pursue fashionable and technological camping equipment. Family consumers focus on parent-child interaction during camping. This meticulous subdivision has also created a broad space for product innovation in the camping industry.
Camping Market Segmentation
The camping market faces different groups of people, so it can be roughly divided into these tracks. Finding the right track for the camp industry will be more beneficial to your career.
Traditional Outdoor Camping: The Foundation of the Camping Industry
The camping industry has always maintained a stable market demand. National parks, nature reserves, and other pristine camping sites attract a large number of outdoor sports enthusiasts and backpackers. Taking Yellowstone National Park in the United States as an example, the number of camping tourists exceeds one million each year, and has shown a steady growth trend in recent years.
For investors, the camping industry can start with infrastructure construction, camping site operation, and management etc.
Glamping: High Added Value
Glamping is an emerging sub-segment of the camping industry. With its unique positioning of “luxury + nature”, compared with traditional camping, glamping has been comprehensively upgraded in terms of accommodation conditions and service facilities. Do you find it hard to imagine having air conditioning, WiFi, private bathtubs, luxury kitchens, etc., when camping? It can be seen that there is still a big difference between glamping and camping.
According to the camping industry statistics recently released by Grand View Research, the global glamping market size in 2021 is US$2.35 billion, and it is expected to grow to US$2.74 billion in 2022 and reach US$5.94 billion in 2030. This field can create economic benefits far exceeding traditional camping through brand premium and diversified services.
Theme Camping: Innovation Track
Theme camping is based on unique cultural connotations and immersive experiences. Various types of special camping, such as historical and cultural themes, music and art themes, and ecological science themes, meet the personalized needs of different consumers. For example, Japan’s anime-themed camping sites deeply integrate popular anime IPs with camping scenes, attracting a large number of young tourists.
Theme camping can effectively improve customer stickiness and repurchase rate with its differentiated competitive advantages. However, the initial investment in theme camping is much higher than that of camping and glamping.
Camping Industry Development Trends
From the three aspects of equipment innovation brought by technological innovation, sustainable development, and new opportunities created by online platform marketing, we will analyze the camping industry in depth for you.
Technological Innovation
Technological innovation has become the core driving force for the transformation of the camping industry. The emergence of smart luxury tents has broken the limitations of traditional camping equipment. For example, built-in sensors can monitor external environmental temperature, humidity, wind speed, and other data in real time.
This data can be connected to the corresponding equipment. When the temperature is too high, the ventilation system will automatically turn on. Therefore, the future development trend of the camping industry must be in the direction of science and technology benefiting mankind.
Sustainable Development
More and more camping equipment manufacturers are committed to the development of eco-friendly products. They use tents made of degradable materials and camping equipment driven by clean energy, such as solar energy and wind energy. Camping sites pay more attention to ecological protection in the planning and operation process. These products reduce the damage to the environment caused by camping activities.
Following the principle of minimum intervention, protecting the local natural landscape and ecosystem, and satisfying consumers’ pursuit of an environmentally friendly lifestyle. This is also the ultimate meaning of realizing camping activities. As a merchant, this is a point that cannot be ignored.
Online Platform Marketing
Camping brands and camping sites attract users’ attention by publishing beautiful pictures and videos, sharing camping strategies, and interesting stories. The experience sharing and recommendations of influencers can quickly increase the popularity of brands and campsites.
With the help of big data technology, camping companies can deeply analyze consumer behavior habits. Through customer preferences and needs, precision marketing can be achieved. By pushing personalized advertisements and discount information, the conversion rate can be improved. This step is a step that camping companies must take in the future, because good wine needs to be hidden in a remote alley.
Economic ＆ Policy Advantages
From an economic perspective, the camping industry has cost advantages. Compared with traditional hotel accommodation and high-end tourism projects, camping has lower operating costs. It does not require large-scale building construction, but only requires moderate transformation of natural sites and construction of basic supporting facilities. Camping equipment is highly reusable, and tents, smart facilities, etc., can be used many times after proper maintenance.
It is very attractive as consumers pursue cost-effective tourism. Because consumers can enjoy a comfortable life and have close contact with nature. The cost of achieving this goal in traditional hotels will be much higher.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has launched the “Rural Tourism Development Program” to provide low-interest loans and tax breaks for companies that develop campsites in rural areas. Local farmers can drive the local rural economy by developing the camping industry. These policies have created a good development environment for the camping industry.
Camping Industry Challenges and Solutions
Of course, its good trend has attracted a large number of companies to enter the camping industry. When a large number of people flock to this industry, some problems are bound to arise. Let’s see how to solve these problems.
Seasonal Influence
The camping industry is significantly affected by seasonal factors. An unsuitable climate will lead to a significant decrease in the number of camping tourists. Extreme weather has caused a significant difference between the off-season and peak seasons in the camping industry, which will affect the stability of camping companies’ revenue throughout the year.
So, is there anything that can mitigate the impact of the reduction in seasonal campsite personnel? Camping companies can adopt a “four-season theme” strategy. In winter, ice and snow-themed camping activities are launched, and projects such as ice sculpture exhibitions and snowmobiles are set up. In summer, the main theme is to escape the heat and cool down.
High-quality services and projects can attract customers to experience them. The system that can adjust the temperature and humidity is also a measure to solve the seasonal impact. Cooperating with surrounding tourist attractions and hotels to launch joint ticket packages can also attract tourists in the off-season.
Competitive Pressure
More and more companies and individuals are entering this field. This will lead to the homogenization of campsite construction and vicious competition in equipment products at low prices. These behaviors have squeezed the profit margins of enterprises. Many campsites lack characteristics in facilities, services, and activities, making it difficult to form differentiated advantages.
In the construction of campsites, tap into local cultural characteristics and natural resource advantages. For example, building historical and cultural theme campsites around historical and cultural cities, integrating local traditional architectural styles, and folk activities. Enterprises enhance customer trust through brand building and high-quality services.
Safety Risks
Camping activities are mostly carried out in the wild and face a variety of safety risks. In terms of the natural environment, there are potential threats such as landslides, floods, and attacks by wild animals. Some campers lack knowledge of survival and safety protection in the wild.
During the site selection and construction stage of campsites, avoid areas with a high incidence of natural disasters. Improve the safety facilities of campsites. Strictly control the quality of camping equipment, and conduct regular inspections and maintenance. Provide professional safety training services for consumers.
Popularize outdoor safety knowledge and emergency response methods through brochures. The most important point is to cooperate with insurance companies to launch special camping insurance to provide risk protection for consumers and businesses.
Start Your Camping Business
Although the camping industry faces challenges such as seasonal influences, fierce market competition, and safety risks, as long as you master the right strategy, you can turn challenges into opportunities. If you want to make a big splash in the camping industry, Glitzcamp is willing to be your right partner.
We have a multilingual professional team and more than ten years of rich experience. From the early planning and design, to the mid-term construction, to the later facility improvement, every link will cooperate with you and check for you. High-quality camping products, including tents, luxury infrastructure, etc., are made by Glitzcamp’s factory. We know what customers want.
Don’t hesitate to seize the development opportunities in the camping industry! Contact Glitzcamp now!
