The Glamping Show UK 2021 Report

Report

2021

Once again, The Glamping Show has come and gone, bigger and better than the year before and instilling a sense of excitement over next year’s event. International Glamping Business were delighted to be able to attend the event, which was a great success, bringing together the largest group of glamping manufacturers yet.

With 107 exhibitor stands present at the show, the exhibition space was transformed into a sea of wonderful and eye-catching structures. What started as a quick stroll through the entirely outdoor space, ended up a great pilgrimage of all thing’s glamping. From Escape Mood’s mirrored cabin that looked like something straight out of a sci-f film to Blackdown’s luxurious shepherd hut complete with the outdoor brass bathtub located on the decking. The Snuggeries were present showing off a beautiful cabin with a second story balcony area, just around the corner from the Conker which never fails to draw a crowd. Pods, yurts, tipis, domes, safari tents and shipping containers, there was something for absolutely everyone. The Glamping Show represents the largest collection of glamping companies available in the UK, all gathered for three days, as current and future glamping site owner peruse their wares.

Since its inaugural event in 2015, the show has grown in size, both the number of exhibitors and visitors larger than that of the year before. In this sense, the 2021 event was no different, boasting more exhibitors for the visitors to see, and more visitors for the exhibitors to sell to.

“This year is definitely the biggest yet and we’re getting an even better response than last year. We sold a couple of units on the first day which is always a great start for a

three-day event.” Coal Bunker.

The growth in the popularity of glamping has been steadily growing for a number of years now, but travel restrictions brought in by the coronavirus pandemic has caused it to skyrocket. As people realised that international travel was becoming more and more difficult, they started to look domestically for holiday options. As business started to return to normal, glamping sites across the country were finding themselves fully booked. This is a trend that has outlasted the travel restrictions and many sites are boasting full occupancy rates well into next year. show with a large cohort of new entrants to the business as the UK domestic vacation sector responded, but perhaps more important was the number of existing operators choosing to reinvest in their businesses to enhance and expand.

“It’s been a great show so far, we’re seeing a lot of interest. We’ve been meeting people from all over the world, international sales

have been fantastic.” Unidome.

Registration for the event was up 60% on the last show with over 5,500 people signing up to visit. Attendance for the event was well over 3,500, again, representing a 60% increase on the 2020 show.

“We’re having a great show, we’ve been really busy. We had around 30 emails on the first day alone and are hearing from people all over the UK and Ireland.”

Eurobuild.

But it’s not just the number of people that are looking to set up a site that has increased,

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Of the visitors in attendance:

48%

were in the early stages of development (exploring opportunities and looking for land)

were experienced operators (of whom 69% were planning to enhance and 89% to expand their businesses)

20%

the number of glamping manufacturers is also growing as well. Of the 107 exhibitor stands present, 30% were new for this year. As the popularity of glamping increases, so too does the number of companies who look to make their mark and drive the industry forward. Walking around The Glamping Show, it was incredible to be able to see this change and innovation first-hand as we noted all the fantastic new companies with their wonderful products and services.

First time exhibitors included Oliver’s Huts who brought along a fantastic shepherds hut and Kata Tipis, the UK’s leading Event Tipi manufacturer, who were showing of their first offering to the Glamping market: the Kata Glamp. The Qube Eco Tiny Homes were present, who have been in the modular build sector for over 13 years and have now diversified into the Tiny Homes market for glamping, and Steelpad who were exhibiting their Steelpad 20 Glamping pod, a purpose designed 6m converted shipping container.

“It’s our first time at the show this year and the reaction that people are having is very good. For the people who are interested in our product, we’re getting around a 60% strike rate, which we’re

happy with.” Airospring. The Glamping Show seminar programme was also back, and for the second year running, held entirely online. 42 industry experts gave a total of 58 sessions representing the largest collection of glamping knowledge available. The programme, which was available to view over a period of a month, was very well received with viewers from 27 different countries. Gathering over 3000 views, the seminars were watched for a total of 610 hours. The International Glamping Business Team would like to thank Swan Events for organising such an incredible show and can’t wait to see what is in store for next year’s event. Each year The Glamping Show proves that glamping is far from a quirky fad, and this year more than ever has shown that it has not only established itself as a viable longterm business opportunity but is now firmly entrenched and bringing change to the entire tourist accommodation sector.

GOING GREEN WITH TRUDOMES

We believe that even the little things can make a big difference when it comes to making steps towards becoming more sustainable in your business, which is why our geodesic dome packaging is ecofriendly and made from wood, minimising plastic waste. Our TruDomes box packaging just so happens to look amazing too, branded with our TruDomes logo. We love seeing what our customers use their boxes for once their domes are assembled, finding creative ways to re-purpose rather than throw away.

TruDomes customers share that same passion for sustainability. Grove Farm Glamping, hailing from Surrey, recently built their luxury dome kitchen out of reclaimed wood, using the wooden box that their TruDomes glamping dome arrived in, along with some left over wood from their dome base – waste not want not!

Charlotte, from Grove Farm Glamping said, “when you’re creating a space it’s easy to use new things, but it’s kinder to the environment to re-use”. Grove Farm Glamping have made a conscious effort to reduce waste and be more sustainable as a business, whilst still managing to attain a high-end, luxury finish to the interior of their glamping dome, ‘The Olive Pod’.

Dartmoor Domes are another TruDomes customer, whose glamping business makes sure that sustainability is a priority. James, from Dartmoor Domes, said, “all materials were sourced as locally as possible and no machinery was used to make the site. So it’s just a handmade, off-grid, back to nature experience”. James explained “for the interiors we followed our ethics where we could, recycled or natural carpets”. TruDomes are made in Britain, making TruDomes the sure choice for any sustainably conscious glamping business owners.

TruDomes.com