By Lily Wang

W ith the repeated outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic， global and long-distance travel has been greatly affected. Camping tourism， which features short-distance outdoor travel and being close to nature， has become popular since 2020， seeing an increase in popularity in the past two years.

During this years May Day holiday， the pandemic restricted tourism， but peoples enthusiasm for travel did not wear off. As the travel distance decreases， people have new expectations of tourism， with people returning to nature， increasing campings popularity.

Outskirts recreation as the main feature

Camping has become a popular choice for tourism. The search volume for “camping” on Tomb-sweeping Day increased by 98% from the previous month on the Ly.com. City parks， citys outskirts and suburban travel are the main types of travel， and more than 80% of tourists chose camping. Data from ctrip.com shows that during the Qingming Festival， the booking volume of camping products increased 3 times when compared to last year. Camping is especially popular in Guangdong and Beijing.

According to the Tourism Market Data Report on the Qingming Holiday in 2022 recently released by the China Tourism Academy， recreation outside of the city has become the first choice for many tourists. Countryside parks and campsites with few visitors are welcomed by tourists. Free countryside parks， forest parks and cultural parks have become new spaces and highlights of holiday tourism， attracting many tourists.

Zhang Mingyang， senior researcher of the TY Research Institute， said，“peoples travel radius is limited as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic， but the demand for travel remains unchanged. Camping has become a new way of tourism and leisure， especially popular among young tourists. Camping-related facilities， catering， campsites and transportation have also become hot topics on social platforms. At the same time， the popularity of private cars， the rapid development of RV camping related industries and the improvement of campsite infrastructure have laid the foundation for the development of camping and provided necessary conditions for tourists to obtain highquality camping experiences.”

China has vast territory， diverse terrain and distinctive campsites in many different places. According to the 2022 Camping Quality Research Report released by Mafengwo.com， the east of China， which features mountains， seas， forests， streams and convenient transportation， has been the hottest camping place and is full of beautiful campsites； the southwest of China， which features forests， lakes and snow mountains， has the most comfortable environment for camping； the south of China， featuring abundant sunshine and beach resources， is also the good choice for tourists dreaming of camping by the sea.

Camping has changed from an activity loved by a small group of people to an activity enjoyed by the public in general， spreading in popularity from first-tier cities all the way across the country. The combination of trendy camping elements with local culture and natural scenery has greatly enhanced the attraction to tourists. Tourists are able to gain unique experiences by camping， such as living in a desert campsite in Dunhuang， riding camels， driving desert motorcycles and enjoying the sunset and stars. Popular campsites have distinctive attractions， such as exciting natural beauty， differentiated camping experiences and camping amusement complexes to meet the needs of a family vacation.

Campsites have also increased the popularity of local tourism， and according to mafengwo.com， Huizhou， Wenzhou， Foshan， Qinzhou， Bijie and Wuhu have become the mostfavored cities for camping in 2021. The mars campsite has raised the reputation of Mangya， Qinghai； and the desert campsite has become one of Dunhuangs new attractions. A forest camp has raised the attractiveness of Conghua， Guangdong.

According to statistics from tuniu.com， the most popular routes of camping tourism were mainly concentrated in the southwest and northwest of China in 2021. RV camping， desert camping and starwatching camping have become the most popular forms. In addition， Hangzhou Tongzhou Island campsite， Huzhou Mogan Mountain Yelin garden campsite， Chengdu Luke Island campsite， Zhuhai Hengqin Xingledu Camping Town， Yancheng Himalayan tent camp， Huizhou Yuanxiang camping camp focus on vacation and leisure and have rich scenic resources， good supporting facilities and various outdoor experience projects. These campsites are very popular as tourists can check in directly with luggage.

Innovate “camping+” programs

With the increase in popularity of camping， people continue to find more innovative ways to do so. For example， on Ctrip.com， tourists may find various distinctive camping services like camping + flower viewing， camping + RV， camping + outdoor music concerts， camping + travel photography and camping + star watching. Guangzhou Liuxihelu campsite is close to water and mountains， features an art museum and research area and provides night camping services. Tourists can enjoy archery games， catch loach and feed small animals in the campsite. The booking volume during the Qingming Festival has increased five-fold when compared to that of Spring Festival.

Camping gives people the opportunity to embrace nature， and endless camping services have opened up more space for imagination. Volcanic camping， self driving camping and star-watching camping have become new popular choices. On the platform mafengwo.com， the contents of “selfdriving camping” have increased by 177% compared to 2020. The search volume for “volcanic camping” has increased by 661%. Adding camping experiences to the self-driving tourism has become a cool choice for many young people， and popular routes in Xinjiang include Jimunai prairie， Sayram Lake， Koktokay and the Tianshan Grand Canyon of Urumqi， all of which provide different experiences for tourists.

More and more young tourists are excited to explore， taking pictures， learning about history， experiencing life at farms-all of these experiences can be enjoyed within the city too.

It is noteworthy that five-star hotels that used to take foreigners as the main source of tourists have launched holiday entertainment packages for local tourists. Promotions like returning catering consumption fees of the same amount upon check-in， Japanese-style markets， cooking master courses and karting have attracted the attention by tourists during the holiday. Feng Rao， Head of Mafengwo Tourism Research Institute， said， “with the change of consumption concept， staying in local hotels has become a new choice for more young people for urban vacation， and young people are also willing to pay for these characteristic experiences.”

Zhang Mingyang suggested，“tourism enterprises should fully consider the specific needs of tourists and design diversify and personalize innovative camping products. Camping products can integrate more experiential services and turn into differentiated products， which is more conducive to winning the market.”

The relevant person in charge of Mafengwo said： “camping should be consumer-oriented. Only by grasping the publics demands for camping can we ensure the camping industry prospers.”

Camping policies expected to further improve

The data shows that 28.8% of Chinese consumers choose to camp once every 1-2 months， 35.4% of consumers choose to camp once every 3-6 months， and 19.0% of consumers choose to camp once a year. Compared with long-term and long-distance travel， it is obvious that short-distance vacation camping features high frequency.

Experts said that with the rapid development of the market， in the foreseeable future， the competition between camping equipment， campsite operators and camping marketing platforms will intensify， and more innovation will come out in the industry. This is also the foundation of the industry players.

With the increasing attention and scale of the camping economy， the government will continue to promote relevant policies of the camping industry to further standardize the market. For a long time， the problems of RV licensing and travel permits have affected the economic development of camping. In 2021， the issuance of the Notice on the Standardized Application of RV， the increase of C6 drivers license and the release of supporting policies in “14th Five-Year Tourism Development Plan”have clarified the strong support for RV camping industry. Chinas camping industry is expected to continue rapid growth in the future.