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2022 Glamping Trends - Our Predictions
TRAVEL TRENDS FOR 2022
How Can Glamping Make the Most of Them?
As we emerge, blinking from the last two years of travel restrictions what will this mean for glamping? Will Rusbridge investigates what the lie of the land is for outdoor hospitality.
Who isn’t thinking about a sunny holiday right now? It’s the middle of winter and everyone has been deprived of exotic travel for almost two years. However, although a surge in bookings is anticipated for the spring school holidays, will this necessarily have any effect on the surge in popularity for glamping holidays we saw in 2021?
“I think for the first part of this year most of the world countries will go back to some kind of normality although at different speeds,” says J Mendes, Founder of No Footprint Consulting and a digital nomad. “You have UK and South Africa taking the lead for opening up, and I really hope that the trends continue.”
J Mendes
Ged Brown, Founder and CEO of Low Season Traveller thinks that outdoor hospitality and domestic trips will remain popular for some time yet. “I think one of the most significant challenges is that we have all been living in the sanctity, safety and security of our “caves” for nearly 2 years now. There can be a real sense of anxiety when we first start to venture out again after this prolonged period of hibernation and we all need to be understanding of this,” he says. “It is even apparent that some of us are nervous travelling within the same country now that we have become accustomed to living and working at home for so long. But this presents a fabulous set of opportunities for us.”
Ged Brown
“We know from several pieces of travel industry research, that the demand for travel remains very high. We are seeing that people are seeking a return to nature and the natural environment after spending so long confined indoors in front of their screens. There is a real urge for people to get back outdoors and reconnect with nature,” he concludes.
Being outdoors was all the rage (and the only option) in the pre-vaccinated days of the pandemic in 2020. Travellers began to make their way back to urban centers—craving more socialization, nightlife, and simply being indoors in winter—starting in the summer of 2021. But that renewed interest in the great outdoors hasn’t died out just yet—and it might be getting bigger than ever. Club Wyndham and WorldMark by Wyndham time-share properties near U.S. national parks, for example, have seen a 71% uptick in bookings.
Outdoorsy destinations are also dominating Kayak’s top-trending list at the tail end of 2021, with Colorado and Montana making up four of the top 10 trending destinations for 2022, with an increase in search share of at least 46% compared to 2019. And while it’s typically filled with cities like New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Atlanta, Kayak’s most popular destinations list is seeing these destinations replaced by outdoor beach towns like Cancun, Honolulu, and Maui. This is the first time in years that New York City has not been among the top 10.
How glamping might benefit: if travellers get their beach holidays booked in February and March they will still want to enjoy the glamping season in European countries from Easter onwards
Ethical Travel
81% of adults would like to stay in a sustainable resort; five years ago, only 62% of respondents said they would.
RX Global, one of the organisers of Arabian Travel Market (ATM), has revealed that 2022 will see a rise in brand-conscious travel.
We have prioritised what we want from our travel throughout lockdowns and we have also experienced more domestic trips in the outdoors. As a result of that and the increased messaging around the environment in the news, people want to feel good about their trips and do less harm to the planet.
Still the most harmful aspect of most holidays is the flight itself – so perhaps it is no surprise that more people are looking to involve train journeys as part of their holiday.
Long-distance overnight services in Europe have seen something of a revival over the past few years, and even more are set to spring up over the next 12 months. For instance, the Swedish state-owned SJ railway is introducing a Stockholm-Hamburg night service later this year, allowing you to sleep your way through 670 miles of rail travel overnight, passing through Copenhagen on the way. Source Time Out
How glamping sites might benefit: Why not offer incentives for people who leave their cars at home and arrive by train?
Make sure your guests know what lengths you go to in order to be sustainable and tell them on your website and email correspondence.
Low Season Travel
Why wouldn’t we want to beat the crowds when it comes to travel after socially distancing for so long. One of the easiest ways of doing this and also of seeing another side to popular destinations is simply to go out of season.
“Low season travellers are wired differently. They feel truly alive and invigorated by looking at what everyone else is doing and then continuing to do the very opposite!” says Ged.
How glamping can benefit: First of all, be open all year round if possible, but other than that, embrace the low season months as if they were a precious jewel.
Never fall into the trap of stating “the best time to come is…”. There is no such thing as a best nor worst time to visit, just different and unique experiences depending on what the guests are seeking.
Ensure that you understand what each season offers for guests, what activities they can enjoy as well as the emotions they will feel at different times of the year when they participate in these activities. Low season periods are offer the rarest experiences and they are niche.
Also, don’t lead on the lower prices of the low season experiences. The lower prices are a bonus (a reward almost!), but they are not the primary reason why travellers visit in the low seasons. They come for unique experiences and the fact that it is a more responsible time of the year to visit.
Finally, celebrate the arrival of your low season months with a fanfare. Shout about how wonderful it is and how this is the time you enjoy the destination the most as you can engage more with your guests as they discover the unique wonder of your home right now.
Pitchup (pitchup.com), a platform for booking outdoor holidays throughout Europe, has recorded its highest growth rates and an 84% increase in overnight stays in autumn 2021, with September and October posting an increase of arrivals of 206% and 187% compared with 2019.
Longer Trips/Slow Travel
As mentioned earlier – train travel looks set to become more popular, with the journey becoming literally part of the holiday itself – rather than just a means to an end. After years of chasing our favourite destinations, flitting from country to country, trying to cross off as many places on our scratch maps as possible, the pandemic forced us to stop in our tracks and reassess. What do we want from travel? If we want to experience the truly authentic side of a place, we need to slow down, stay longer and take it all in. It’s a chance to connect with the people, culture, and our surroundings. It’s a way to live like the locals do, and explore deeper, by train, bike, or foot. On top of this, slow travel will reduce your carbon footprint, minimising your impact on the environment. Bonus!
www.wanderlust.co.uk
How glamping sites can benefit: special offers for longer stays are a great way of riding out the shoulder seasons for those with suitable accommodation.
Experiential Travel
Travel has always been about the experiences. Travel is about feelings and emotions, and connecting travellers with feelings and emotions which they may not have experienced before is the best strategy for success in driving low season travel. “We need to highlight not only the unique experiences which are on offer in our sites, but also the feelings and emotions which these experiences will elicit,” says Ged. “Think about how they will feel when they are with you. Consider the images, words, videos and sounds which you use to promote your experiences and make sure that they elicit the feelings which you hope to share with them once they arrive.”
How glamping sites can benefit: make sure you have some experiences which are true to your local area. Get in touch with local restaurants, suppliers and experience providers and work alongside them. You can offer treks, tastings and talks – in fact all sorts of things that will go into your guests memory banks!
Digital Nomads
With a growing demand for blending the flexibility of remote work with leisure travel, more than 40% of Gen-Z employees plan to take a “workcation” (essentially, working while traveling—but not traveling for work and not taking PTO days for it) in 2022, according to data provided by Kayak.
www.kayak.co.uk
“Digital nomadism have always been growing, and now with Covid it just became a permanent trend. And it feeds on itself, because when you start to share images of your new lifestyle your friends and colleagues will want to do the same, and now they can,” says J Mendes.
Ged agrees, “We now realise that in many cases, we can work just as effectively (and arguably more efficiently) remotely and this means that many people will now consider working from another location in the world from 2 weeks to 6 months. I foresee an opportunity for a new form of travel where we can experience life in a different country whilst still working. A new form of business/ leisure travel where both elements are combined and this ultimately could lead to longer stays which are more environmentally responsible.”
J’s advice for those glamping sites looking to attract digital nomads:
Good working conditions are essential in accommodation or common areas with lightening-speed internet. Having a desk and a kitchenette in the room are great attracting features for this market, and meeting rooms are the premium feature.
These are the tangible conditions an operator can create, but it will be hard to attract a lot of remote workers if the city or country is not creating the conditions for this type of medium/long term traveler. Unless you are working with domestic remote workers, the international one will not want to travel to a location if no other remote workers are known to be around. The exception could be family remote workers who don’t need socialisation so much.
A remote worker will look for good destinations before checking out accommodation, and if your destination is not famous in the remote worker community then your site will not be searched. Platforms like nomadlist.com are the starting point for most of the travellers.
What operators need to do is to understand that a short-stay traveler has very different needs to someone that can stay for months in one place. They will spend many more hours with you and explore the destination at a much lower pace, this will create more touch points for your staff.
It is not easy to have an hybrid approach, where some of your rooms are available for longer stays while the rest are for short term. Every case is a case and there are many remote work experts in the market today that can help tailor that kind of offer.
Look at the messaging on your marketing, big sale prices for weekends will not be attractive, while a monthly price with pool and gym will do wonders if you outreach to this community. Another way of taking advantage of this market is to focus on it during your low season period, some destinations are doing that like the Nomad Village project in the Madeira Island.
(https://www. washingtonpost.com/travel/2021/02/22/ digital-nomad-visas-covid/
Geographical Trends
“I see the island destinations getting a lot of attention as they have an advantage controlling outbreaks due to their easier border control. I have moved to one also because of this reason myself,” says J.
“So safer choices will be in order, and regions that have dealt poorly with the pandemic will continue to suffer, Southeast Asia on top of my mind as the most hit destination in relation with their previous levels. Zero Covid policy countries like New Zealand and Australia also also not great on top preferences because of their continuous tight restrictions, and I would not be surprised if episodes like the Djokovic saga made this even worse.
“If Europe gets its act together during the year I would see it as the preferable destination for everyone around the world that want to travel and stay safe,” he concludes.
