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You can bring your family or friends to travel on a whim, with food, clothing, housing and daily necessities all in one car, without having to worry about booking hotels or finding restaurants. "Drive to move your family, and you are free to go wherever you want. Leave the city in the morning, stay on the beach in the evening. If you come across a place to stay, you can stay or go. On the long road to the end of the world, look up and see the flying gulls." Running all the way, taking things as they come, enjoying the beauty of mountains and rivers, it can be said to be extremely free.

However, as RV culture has not yet been fully popularized in China, coupled with the lagging supporting infrastructure, there are some bottlenecks in driving RVs. With the combined stimulation of policies and demand, I believe that driving RVs to travel around the world will be a promising future.

RV travel market continues to heat up

In 2023, the cumulative sales of RVs in my country reached 14,365, a year-on-year increase of 22.41%. The total number of RVs in China reached about 213,400. The "2024 May Day Tourism Trend Insight Report" released by Ctrip shows that RV bookings increased nearly 7 times year-on-year during this year's May Day holiday. Data disclosed by RV Life Home shows that RV bookings have already begun before the summer vacation. As of the end of May, the number of summer orders has increased by more than 60% compared with the same period last year.

Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy, said that after mass tourism entered a new stage of comprehensive development, personalization and diversity have become the main characteristics of tourism consumption, among which the trend of self-driving and family travel is becoming more and more obvious, and RV tourism is in a state of sustained growth. Nowadays, you can see all kinds of RVs on highways, around scenic spots and even in residential areas. RV consumption is moving from the introduction period of the concept to the cultivation period of the market. It can be said that RVs are entering the homes of ordinary people.

In the hot summer, many people choose to drive an RV to escape the "urban heat island" and find a lake or mountain to escape the heat. After his children went on summer vacation, Mr. Sun, a Beijing resident, began to plan a family RV trip.

"We started from Beijing and headed south, stopping in Tianjin and Zibo, Shandong, all the way to Nanjing." Mr. Sun said that he had consulted a car rental company, and compared with the high cost of hotel accommodation during the summer, the car rental fee was not a problem at all. "What's more important is that it's comfortable. My family can sleep when they want to, and move around when they want to. When we stop, we can enjoy the scenery and play mahjong together."

Tourists park their cars at the RV campsite of Xing'an National Forest Park in Yichun, Heilongjiang Province, on July 11. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Tao

From the perspective of the source of tourists, the demand for RV travel is stronger in first- and second-tier cities. Taking Shanghai as an example, a RV that is the first choice for family travel and economical travel has achieved 100% booking for the "May Day" holiday in early April. In Guangzhou, compared with March, the RV travel data in April increased by 105% month-on-month.

The release of RV demand is closely related to policy support and the improvement of RV comfort.

The Outline for Building a Strong Transportation Nation issued by the State Council in September 2019 proposed to promote the development of tourist trains, tourist scenic roads, tourist waterways, and self-driving RV camps, and improve the tourism service functions of transportation facilities. In October 2023, the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the High-Quality Development of the Automotive Aftermarket jointly issued by the Ministry of Commerce and nine other departments pointed out that it is necessary to support the construction of camps such as self-driving RVs, strengthen policy support, and promote the development of RV tourism consumption.

At the same time, with the empowerment of intelligence, RVs are increasingly transforming from a convenient means of transportation to a "mobile home". Easy and convenient voice control, air-to-water generators that use renewable energy... The upgrade of travel experience has made people more and more fond of RV travel.

It's not easy to say I love you when facing a bottleneck

Blogger Liu Tong often shares his experience of traveling in a motorhome on social media. He admits that he can rest and park at any time, cook, and play games with his family, which makes him feel pretty good overall. However, he also shared his worries: the height limit poles that appear from time to time on the road make him nervous; many parking lots do not accept motorhomes to park, and even if they agree, they often charge several times the parking fee; parking lots usually do not have direct power supply, and replenishing daily electricity is a hassle; wastewater treatment is time-consuming and labor-intensive; sometimes sleeping in a motorhome is not peaceful, and there is often a knocking illusion...

RVs can indeed bring a comfortable experience of leisure and slow life, avoid the cursory "check-in tourism", and allow tourists to immerse themselves in enjoying the natural and cultural scenery, but their inconveniences cannot be avoided, the most typical of which is the lack of infrastructure.

Experts have analyzed that some European and American countries are sparsely populated and have large spaces for RV parking. RV usage scenarios are more diverse, and related business formats are relatively complete. In contrast, it is not easy to find suitable parking spaces for large RVs in China. After a short trip, most expensive RVs are idle and "collect dust", which not only wastes resources, but also makes the daily maintenance of vehicles a headache for many car owners. More importantly, there are very few specialized RV camps built in China, and mature business services have yet to be developed.

Advance planning paves the way for new consumption formats

Despite the temporary "acclimatization problem", Qin Guo, vice president of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce Automobile Dealers Chamber of Commerce, believes that with the improvement of the road network, the increasing demand for personalized travel, and the emphasis on tourism infrastructure and public services across the country, the RV tourism market will show a steady growth trend in the next few years.

The "2022 China RV (Motorhome) Market Report" released by the China Automobile Dealers Association pointed out that under the influence of relevant policies such as further promoting bulk consumption and key consumption, domestic RV (Motorhome) travel and camping are favored by the general public, and the RV circulation market is gradually heating up. my country's RV market will usher in good development opportunities.

Liu Tong believes that RV travel can not only stimulate consumption, but also drive tourism and allow the general public to experience a better life. To this end, suitable scenic spots can be selected to improve supporting facilities. "For example, RV camping sites can be built on some coasts, with appropriate charges, water and electricity facilities, and some semi-finished vegetables, wine and beverages can be sold. I believe it will be popular with everyone."

On July 19, Tao Liang photographed a corner of the RV base in Haiping Yi Nationality Cultural Town, Shuicheng District, Liupanshui City, Guizhou Province

The key to stimulating consumption is to have a matching consumption environment and scenario. In the long run, standardized RV camps, diversified peripheral products, and a convenient RV rental system are all closely related to the future of RV consumption. The industry suggests that to promote the healthy and sustainable development of RV tourism, efforts should be made to improve infrastructure such as parking lots and highways in scenic spots, improve traffic regulations related to RV travel, provide financial insurance, rescue, maintenance and other supporting services, and completely open up the "last mile" of safe travel for RV tours.

Source: Banyuetan

Author: Mao Zhenhua

Process Editor: U022