The Glamping Show USA 2021 Report

from International Glamping Business | Nov/Dec 2021

A Guide to Pods Cabins and Domes Part 2

USA grows by more than 150%

The Glamping Show USA (www.glampingshow.us) was held near Denver, Colorado in October. This was the fourth in the annual series of trade events held annually to serve the north and south America community of business professionals in the glamping sector of the outdoor hospitality industry.

This year’s event set new records for the total number of verified onsite trade visitors, the number of paid conference delegates, the number of exhibitors which included several international companies.

1053 trade visitors made the investment of time to visit the Denver-area event. This was up from approximately 450 attendees to the 2019 show (Note: 2019 was the most recent “in-person” event before the pandemic. In 2020, The Glamping Show produced a virtual event with over 1500 unique visitors). Of the more than 1000 total visitors, over 550 registered to participate in the professional conference program.

The show’s traditional 2-day conference program featured 8 sessions with an outstanding faculty of industry veterans. Sessions featured a variety of topics including The Guest Experience, Adding Events to Boost your Bottom Line, and Building Asset Value; How to Build Your Business for Future Success. A new educational feature was launched this year with a ½-day preshow workshop (held the day before the expo opened). Entitled Glamping Business Basics and sponsored by the American Glamping Association, the sessions featured an overview of the glamping business and was tailored to those new or thinking of entering the business. “Considering this (additional workshop) meant that delegates needed to come to the event a day early and stay and extra night, we were thrilled to see how many participated in this preconference workshop” said Sally Matteson, the Conference Director and co-owner of the event.

Another new feature offered for the first time this year was a “on-demand” opportunity for those that were unable to join us at the event. Visitors had access to digital booth units (stand) so that they could interact with all the exhibitors. Additionally, the entire conference program was available during this 2-week opportunity. This year’s expo featured 70 exhibitors that came from the US, Canada, Mexico, England, Ireland, Netherlands, South African and Australia. With both indoor and outdoor exhibition space, visitors had the opportunity to visit over 40 different structures and to interact with a wide variety of products and services targeted specifically to the glamping business market.

“We welcomed over 1000 trade visitors and 70 exhibitors to the 2021 event,” said David Korse, Sales Director, and co-owner. “Everyone seemed happy, enthusiastic, and with positive comments about the show. We will return to the same venue in 2022 with the hope that the pandemic will be fully behind us thereby making it possible for more visitors and exhibitors to safely make the trip to join us.”