The warmer temperatures in the past two months have stimulated people’s desire for outdoor sports. After returning to travel freely, more choices have had a certain impact on the camping market. Has the camping market cooled down? In addition to camping, which outdoor sports are surging with business opportunities?
01 Cool down from camping fever
In recent years, people’s travel activities have been significantly reduced due to the impact of the epidemic, which has triggered a surge in demand in the camping market. The “2022-2023 China Camping Industry Research and Benchmark Enterprise Analysis Report” shows that the core market size of China’s camping economy will reach 113.47 billion yuan in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 51.8%; the driven market size will be 581.61 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth rate of 52.6%. It is expected that the core market size of China’s camping economy will rise to 248.32 billion yuan in 2025, driving the market size to 1.44028 billion yuan.
However, with the relaxation of epidemic prevention and control policies, the “camping economy” began to show signs of decline.
During the May Day holiday, with the recovery of the tourism market, more people choose to travel across provinces or abroad during the holiday. The exquisite camping that was popular in the past two years seems to be being forgotten. Hot search data on travel platforms also show that camping, the “new favorite” in the travel circle, seems to have encountered a development bottleneck.
On a certain social platform, as of July 2022, the number of notes related to “camping” exceeded 3.94 million+; in the same year, the popularity of the word “camping” on Baidu APP also increased from 400 to 3,300. As of March this year, notes related to “camping” on the same social platform have begun to decrease; the search popularity of “camping” on Baidu has also dropped to about 800. In addition, if you enter “camping” and “camping site” in WeChat’s search index applet, you can see an overall downward trend.
Wei Xiang, a professor at the Institute of Financial Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the recent popularity of the camping economy has indeed declined compared with before. In terms of demand, it is obviously affected by the diversion effect. In terms of supply, after the overall travel demand recovers, some camping suppliers with low service quality will be swept out of the market. This is also a natural phenomenon.
02Diversified consumer outdoor sports
The reasons for the cooling of camping fever can be divided into two categories. On the one hand, it is the rebound after the relaxation of epidemic control; on the other hand, it is the change of consumer demand for themselves.
Regarding the first point, some consumers once said, “After the epidemic is reopened, there are more entertainment activities to choose from. Parties, shopping, travel, markets, exhibitions, many of which are no longer restricted. Compared with camping, these Activities are significantly easier to participate in. So day-to-day breaks rarely put camping at the top of the list.”
Thanks to the previous popularity of exquisite camping, leading camping companies will usher in explosive growth in 2022. The annual report shows that Mugaodi achieved revenue of 1.436 billion yuan and net profit attributable to the parent company of 138 million yuan in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 55.52% and 77.83% respectively. Among them, the revenue of self-owned brand business, mainly in the domestic market, increased by as high as 130.50% year-on-year. Talking about the reasons, Mu Gaodi said that it benefited from the explosive growth of domestic outdoor camping, coupled with the company’s continued efforts in product strength, brand strength, and channel strength.
However, Mugaodi’s performance in the first quarter of 2023 slowed down significantly, with revenue growth falling to 4.68% year-on-year, and net profit falling by 21.47%, of which revenue growth from its own brand business was 65.83%. The relevant person in charge said that due to the impact of the export environment, OEM/ODM export business revenue declined significantly in the first quarter of 2023. In addition, the base number in the same period last year was high, which dragged down the net profit after the consolidated statement. The decline in self-owned brand business revenue growth is also related to the higher base in the same period in 2022.
03 The industry tends to develop stably
Regarding the market situation of the camping industry, some experts pointed out that in the past few years, the camping economy has developed rapidly, and the growth process has also been mixed. Some unprofessional and imperfect businesses are also entering the market. Now, as consumers have a wider range of travel choices, the camping economy has also ushered in a steady development process, and some businesses that originally took advantage of the boom are facing the risk of being eliminated. Most of these merchants lack advantages in product creation, and may even be here to make quick money.
Compared with European and American countries, China’s camping penetration rate is still very low. Local government departments and platforms are rapidly promoting the layout of camping sites. As per capita GDP continues to grow, camping will enter a stable development stage. The market still needs a large amount of supply, and new increments will still enter. “Although the tourism market is recovering, for consumers, the time and money costs of camping are still much lower than traveling, and camping is far from being ‘cool’.” Experts said that after experiencing rapid development in the past few years , the camping industry is currently developing steadily.
The “Outdoor Sports Industry Development Plan (2022-2025)” jointly issued by the State Sports General Administration and other eight departments shows that by 2025, my country’s outdoor sports venue facilities will continue to increase, their popularity will increase significantly, the number of participants will continue to grow, and the total outdoor sports industry will The scale will exceed 3 trillion yuan. In addition to camping, hiking has also begun to enter the public eye to a greater extent.
After the epidemic was reopened, long-distance travel and cross-border travel began to rebound, and peripheral travel became increasingly popular. On the one hand, peripheral tours are more suitable for working groups; on the other hand, they are also more cost-friendly. Get a general understanding of hikingIt can be found that the hiking user group generally only controls the duration of the activity to about one day. And the activity location is usually around the city.
Compare this with the tedious procedures of making reservations in advance, preparing tools, and materials for camping. Hiking seems to be more suitable for young people’s travel attitude of just walking. An experienced hiking user said, “Compared with the small-scale activities of camping, during hiking, the feeling of walking around the mountain, sitting on the ground, exploring nature, and returning home at night can help you relax more from the busy city life. .” Today, hiking has become a weekly outdoor plan for most young people. The rise of this movement may lead to the development of more related brands.
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