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Japan’s Path to Glamping Success
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.
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 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 which has been very positive for the glamping business. The effect of Covid on the tourism industry led to a sales decrease of 30-40% from last year. But glamping has an image of social distancing in Japan, so these losses did not affect glamping businesses and there has actually been a sharp rise in the number of new glamping sites being created,” says Kenji.
So, coming out of the pandemic, the glamping sector in Japan has firmly cemented itself as an important part of the overall tourism industry. With popularity high, and a sharp increase in the number of sites the glamping industry is starting to mature. In the life cycle of glamping industries across the world, this is when having a unique selling point and first-class service becomes paramount. Whether a small one tent site or a larger more resort style experience, offering guests luxury and a true glamping experience is integral to success.
“There are a number of sites that offer luxurious experiences, demand for them is already high and continues to grow. Our sites and the Hoshino sites come to mind, offering full service, good scenery and various activities,” says Kenji.
However, this does come with some drawbacks. The growing popularity of a new sector of tourism will of course draw out the more opportunistic of companies, looking to cash in on this new form of travel.
“There is a bad tendency in our market where some of the producing companies who oversee a number of sites gather new players with the phrase ‘Glamping is very lucrative’. Once they have the sites, they add the bare minimum of small tents and barbecue grills, then set very expensive prices. This is definitely a negative for the industry as for the time being, glamping has become very popular but if the tourists only visit these types of sites then they will become bored and disappointed with the level of service when compared with the exorbitant prices.
So, we expect that the market will be bipolarised soon, sites that are not offering a true glamping experience will lose popularity and luxury styled services will have more demand.”
The success of a site comes down to a lot more than good accommodation, owners need to focus on the experience as a whole and offering activities for guests is a great way to make a site stand out, “Activities and attractions are important of course, and barbecue is a must. Location is very important as marine, forest activities and Onsen (hot spa) are very popular. As the popularity of glamping increased, so did the number of sites that are offering these types of activities. Because of this, sites are branching out in what they offer with additions such as full service like a resort hotel and educational activities where guests can study something.”
When it comes to accommodation there are many similarities to other countries in terms of preference. Research carried out by Glamping Japan shows that while there is a variety of accommodation types to choose from, some are more popular than others, “There are around 50 glamping sites that are simply old camp sites updated with small tents and cottages.” Says Kenji, “Around 100 are renovated campsites with big tents, such as Nordisk or Canvascamp and around 50 sites that feature containers or trailers. From 2018, dome tents gained a lot of popularity and are now used on over 100 sites.”
There is one difference however, that stands out as glaringly obvious, which is the near complete lack of any kind of canvas tents, “Tents with weak structures such as canvas tents and those with weak wooden structures are not favoured due to issues with the weather. The Japanese Government has strict regulations for architecture to protect against typhoons and earthquakes. On top of this, or perhaps because of it, there are no wooden frame tent manufacturers in Japan, so it becomes necessary to import from another country. This in itself is difficult due to the ongoing quarantine measures and the humid climate of Japan.”
As for the average size of a site, the research shows that, “5-10 tent sites are a very standard size, up to a maximum of around 20 tents. It’s rare to see sites that are larger than this. From our research, we have counted the average number of accommodation units on a site is 7.3.”
