The Growing Trend For ‘Glamping’ Vacations and What It Can Tell Us About Our Changing Travel

 

The terms ‘glamping’ and ‘staycation’ have been around in the travel industry for a few years now, and are both concepts that have been growing massively in popularity.

While a staycation is a period of vacation time spent at or close to home (whether you stay at home or go camping in nearby countryside, for example), doing local activities and visiting local places of interest you may not have seen before, glamping is a style of camping aimed at people who want to go camping but with a little more luxury than on a more rugged camping trip to have lots of fun. Check https://www.globosurfer.com/best-camping-saws/ for some great finds.

 

  • Why Has Glamping Become So Appealing?

 

A lot of people like the idea of camping, as a way to get out of the city and be in nature and also because it tends to be about the cheapest kind of vacation you can do. However, there are elements of camping that some people don’t like the idea of, such as the basic bathroom facilities, sleeping in cramped conditions, and not having access to things like electricity.

The idea of glamping addresses these things by creating luxury campsites with catering, electricity, and comfortable, beautifully decorated luxury sleeping spots. If the idea of sharing normal 6 person tents with your whole family for a few days doesn’t sound like something you’d enjoy, and you don’t really want to eat food cooked in a can over a camping stove, glamping is the happy medium between the thriftiness of camping (as it is still generally cheaper than hotel accommodation) and the luxuries of a hotel.

 

  • The Rise in Popularity of Glamping Vacations

 

A 2017 survey of 1400 people showed that a third of them would like to try glamping as a vacation model – and half wanted to try a locally based camping vacation in general. Glamping businesses have also reported huge increases in bookings in 2017, for instance one luxury campsite in the same report reported an 11% rise in profits in August 2017 compared with August 2016.

 

  • What Does the Rise in Camping, Glamping and Staycations Mean?

 

What we can surmise from the huge increases in popularity for vacations that don’t involve long distance travel or conventional hotel accommodation is that while people still value their vacation time and want to spend it doing enjoyable things, the shift towards ‘belt tightening’ has caused more and more of us to look for fun in new ways.

Another hint towards this is the rise of Airbnb. For those who want to go to another city, region or country on vacation, this is now often the first port of call to find somewhere suitable to stay for less than a hotel, despite Airbnb meaning a self-catering stay without hotel amenities like a pool or restaurant.

Travel trends, like any other trends, do tend to come and go, just as all-inclusive became a big deal in the ’90s and glamping is rising to prominence now. However, all the signs suggest this is a travel trend that has not peaked yet, and one many still want to try!

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