JAPAN’S PATH TO
Glamping Success
With glamping becoming popular in Japan around 2015, it’s a relatively new addition to the Japanese tourism sector. While the industry was affected by COVID, glamping has come out the other side more popular than ever. With a growing number of people looking for glamping getaways in Japan, businesses are rushing to make the most of the opportunity. International Glamping Business Publisher Steph Curtis-Raleigh reached out to Kenji Kurimoto of Glamping Japan to find out more.
popularity, “In 2017, there were only 80 glamping sites in Japan but now there are more than 300. Our tent has been introduced to more than 70 sites.” The jump in the number of sites from 2017 to present demonstrates the growing popularity of glamping in Japan, having nearly quadrupled in just four years. This increase in the number of sites represents a growth in the demand for glamping sites across the country, and it has not gone unnoticed by larger companies looking to run multiple sites, “We have 3 sites under the name Glamprook. The Farm, a company based near Tokyo focussing on farm activities, has 2 sites and there are around 10 campsite companies that have 2-3 sites. Hoshino, the company behind the Hoshinoya hotel among others, Marriott and other hotel groups are also trying to add glamping tents to their hotels.”
With the popularity of glamping at an all-time high and supply just about keeping up with demand along came 2020 and the COVID 19 pandemic. The pandemic affected industries across the world, but tourism took a hit harder than most. Interestingly, the trend that has been seen within the glamping industry is that as international travel became more and more difficult, people started looking for new and exciting ways to explore the country that they live in. This rise in the popularity of domestic travel coupled with the fact that glamping sites are usually found in low population areas and able to adapt to social distancing measures more easily than brick and mortar accommodation options meant that when lockdowns weren’t in effect, glamping sites saw a rise in demand. “With international travel becoming difficult, there has been an increase in domestic tourism
While it’s not entirely clear when glamping first emerged in Japan, 2015 is a milestone, “It was in 2015 that the famous hotel group, Hoshinoya, opened a glamping styled hotel. There are certainly some glamping pioneers before 2015, but they are very small sites and it was at a time when the term glamping was not yet widely known in Japan,” says Kenji. Since then, the glamping sector in Japan has fully established itself within the tourism industry and has shown a huge increase in
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