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The State Council recently issued the "Opinions on Promoting the High-quality Development of Service Consumption", proposing 20 key tasks in six areas, and "encouraging the development of new formats such as cruise ships, yachts, RV camping, and low-altitude flights" in the field of tourism consumption. As the retirement vision of the elderly, the "poetry and distance" of young people, and a tool for attracting traffic for travel bloggers, have many people really traveled in RVs? Is the journey as beautiful as imagined and in travel videos? Will the new formats usher in new developments under the support of policies? Jiangsu is a major province in RV production and sales, and the reporter launched an investigation on this.

RV self-driving is still in the early stages of development

On July 26, shortly before the release of the State Council's "Opinion", the 2024 Second Jiangsu (Nanjing) Automobile Consumption Festival and the 33rd Nanjing International RV Camping Expo opened. On the afternoon of the 27th, reporters went to the site to learn about the exhibition and sales situation.

Nearly 100 RV companies participated in the exhibition, with more than 300 exhibitors on display, covering an area of ​​nearly 15,000 square meters. Han Junshan, representative of the organizer, vice chairman and secretary general of the China Automobile Journalists Association, said that the Yangtze River Delta region is the largest RV production and manufacturing base in the country, and the number of RV registrations is also among the highest in the country. Jiangsu's RV industry chain and parts manufacturing are relatively complete, and choosing Nanjing to hold the exhibition will help further radiate the Yangtze River Delta RV market. According to Huang Jian, chairman of Yangzhou Sai De RV Co., Ltd., the exhibition belongs to the domestic A-class exhibition, that is, a high-end exhibition in a niche field, and the scale of this exhibition is second to none in East China.

The reporter walked around the site and found that the overall comfort level of the exhibition was high, and most of the visitors were in a wait-and-see state. Many staff members in the exhibition area also used live broadcasts to attract online traffic. Taking advantage of the weekend, Nanjing citizen Liang Chunsheng brought his wife, son and daughter-in-law to visit the exhibition. Liang Chunsheng and his wife are both interested in self-driving tours, and they have also paid attention to some RVs before. "I think I will retire next year, and I will have time to drive out with my family, so I want to come and have a look."

Liang Chunsheng and his family stopped at the booth of SAIC Maxus, the leader in the domestic RV market, to learn about it for a long time. "We have more than 400 after-sales outlets nationwide, which is one of the main selling points of our brand," said Jiang Chao, head of the SAIC Maxus factory direct store. According to their customer survey, many consumers are willing to spend 30,000 to 50,000 yuan more on RVs of the same grade, choosing RVs with better original quality and after-sales service.

"So far, we have sold a total of 10 RVs on site, of which 8 are B-type RVs." Jiang Chao introduced that most of the potential buyers are men aged 50-55. B-type RVs are relatively small RVs. They can be used not only as RVs, but also as family cars, so they are easy to move and flexible. Because the length of the car is generally no more than 6 meters, it can be driven with a C license. Compared with traditional C-type RVs, it has less wind resistance and is easier to drive and park.

According to statistics from the organizer, the three-day RV exhibition attracted about 35,000 visitors and 152 RVs were sold at the exhibition site. This is higher than the reporter expected. Feng Chunhua, executive president of the Jiangsu Self-Driving Tour Association, said that while self-driving tours have accounted for 70% to 80% of the tourism market, RV self-driving is still in its early stages of development, especially in the Yangtze River Delta, where the economy is developed, the population is dense, and the area is small, the RV market is developing relatively slowly.

There are poems and worries in the distance

There are more and more RV travel videos on major video websites, and some bloggers have already traveled abroad to Europe and other places. What is the real experience of in-depth self-driving RV camping?

Not long ago, RV blogger Uncle Fuwang and his wife returned to their hometown after a trip to Guizhou, preparing to rest and then set off again by car. In 2017, Uncle Fuwang, who had just turned 50, made a bold decision - quit his job, bought an RV, and took his wife with him to fulfill the promise he made when he was young to "take you to roam the country." Nearly eight years have passed, and the RV tracks of Fuwang's family have covered various provinces in China.

"RV life has been fully integrated into our daily life and has become a way of life, leisurely and comfortable, and adaptable." In Uncle Fuwang's video, the RV is a mobile home, with kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and guest functional areas, and an expansion cabin on one side of the car body. "We can switch states at will. If we want to integrate into this city, we can taste the local specialties and explore the humanities and history. If we are tired of playing, we can rest in the car, cook some home-cooked meals, and make dumplings." Uncle Fuwang told reporters that they spend almost half of their time on the road every year, and they drive wherever it is suitable for the current season.

There are dream chasers and self-media people on the RV self-driving road. Cang Cang and Lao Zhang are a couple born in the 1980s with 8 years of self-media experience. At the beginning of last year, they chose the RV self-driving track. The appearance of their RV is similar to a small van, incorporating personalized designs such as an oven, a refrigerator, a wall-mounted computer, a Bluetooth speaker, and a hidden extra-wide double bed. In the past year, they have traveled to Xinjiang, Quanzhou, and Chaoshan. "With an indoor area of ​​6 square meters and a balcony of 9.6 million square kilometers, we started our journey of roaming around China with two people and a dog."

There are beautiful scenery on the road that can be welcomed by opening the car door. The maintenance cost of RVs of ordinary models is not high. However, in the view of Uncle Fuwang and others, the internal and external experience of RV travel may make some people mind. The scenic spots to visit, camp supplies, and the construction of entertainment and leisure areas along the way are not yet perfect. Mature routes suitable for RV travel need to be explored more. You may not find parking spaces in the city and need to empty your excrement yourself... "Although we don't think this is a troublesome thing, we have seen from the Internet that many young people have such complaints and concerns." Uncle Fuwang said, "People choose RVs, and RVs also choose people. If you have high requirements for life, you may not be suitable for RV travel."

"It is very likely that the owner bought an RV on a whim, but found it inconvenient to park and add water, so he ended up leaving it exposed to the wind and rain." Feng Chunhua said that RVs are mainly suitable for long-distance travel and have unique advantages in sparsely populated areas such as Xinjiang and Tibet. Going to these RV camping "advantage areas" often requires money and free time, which most young people cannot meet. He admitted that according to sales big data, RVs are still a relatively niche category in the entire passenger car market. "You can see that RVs seem to be very popular online, but in fact, especially this year, the decline in RV sales is still relatively large compared to last year."

Inadequate camp facilities are the biggest obstacle to development

Why are RVs still a niche market? All respondents pointed to the problem of supporting facilities in campsites. "It is a cruel reality that RV service facilities are not sound across the country," said Huang Jian, adding that the current coverage of supply outlets is not enough, which is the biggest obstacle to RV travel. Feng Chunhua also believes that the lack of supporting transportation facilities, service facilities and security measures is an important reason why RV sales are not increasing.

Not only are there few supporting campsites, but they are also not standardized and convenient enough. "Especially in terms of water and electricity conditions for RVs, many campsites are still relatively simple and do not have sufficient water and electricity connections." Cang Cang told reporters that many campsites lack maintenance and management, and the aging and damage of components cause a lot of trouble for travelers.

"The trend of younger RV owners is becoming more and more obvious, and their requirements for quality of life are higher and their willingness to consume is more obvious. I hope that under the guidance of the government, more high-quality RV camps can be established, preferably close to scenic spots and attractions, to meet everyone's more refined life needs." Zhang Zhang said. Uncle Fuwang also suggested that more powerful RV camp operating companies can be introduced to form industry organizations, and the government can provide certain support and help. "This is a long-term return process. Only when the supporting facilities are getting better and better can more people be attracted, so that there will be RV owners everywhere, and more new RV owners will join in."

The "14th Five-Year Plan for Tourism Development" issued by the State Council in 2021 proposed to "promote self-driving RV tourism and implement a self-driving tourism promotion plan"; the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the High-Quality Development of the Automotive Aftermarket" jointly issued by the Ministry of Commerce and nine other departments proposed to "support the construction of camps such as self-driving RVs." In Huang Jian's view, the experience of developed countries in Europe and the United States where RVs are popular can be learned on the ground, and RV campsites can be used as public utilities. "When building parking lots, RV campsites should be taken into consideration, and RV charging and water filling facilities should be turned into public facilities. This will be of great help to the development of the industry."

However, campsite construction may face objective constraints such as land indicators. "For example, our Suzhou No. 1 Campsite is a relatively influential campsite, but it was eventually demolished due to a series of problems such as land." Feng Chunhua said that the travel habits of users also make many places not very enthusiastic about receiving RVs. Some car owners leave garbage all over the campsite, making many scenic spots unwelcome to RVs. From the perspective of promoting consumption, RV owners generally eat and live in the car, especially the main users of RVs are older and generally more frugal, and cannot bring high economic value to the local area. "Therefore, some tourist provinces have experienced a process from welcoming RVs at the beginning to not welcoming RVs now."

The prospect is promising, but the business model still needs to be nurtured

Between 2015 and 2016, China's RV market experienced rapid growth in both supply and use, but has also experienced setbacks in recent years. The large number of RVs waiting to be sold in the second-hand car market also seems to indicate that it is not easy to travel by RV. Can this new business model really become popular in China?

Let's take a look at foreign countries. At present, RVs are mainly popular in Europe, the United States, and Australia. The RV market is active, and Japan and South Korea are also heating up. As the vice president of the Tourism Products and Equipment Branch of the Jiangsu Tourism Association, Huang Jian analyzed that this is because RVs in developed countries in Europe and the United States have gone through a century of development since the 1920s, so there are a large number of RVs, the RV market is active, and users are relatively dependent on RVs. Since 2002, RV companies have been born in my country and domestic brand RV products have appeared. It has only been 20 years since its development. It will take some time for the industry to develop and cultivate user groups.

In terms of industrial development, a certain scale has been formed in China. "It has not formed an industrial cluster effect, but it presents a state of industrial ecological chain." Huang Jian said that Jiangsu has a large number of RV companies in the country and a relatively high consumption of RVs. The RV companies' product brands rank high and the product quality is excellent. The main problem is insufficient market demand, and the potential market has not been fully tapped. He believes that relevant parties should innovate to guide potential customer groups to choose this lifestyle, and all localities and scenic spots should be more welcoming to RV owners, strengthen the construction of related facilities, help potential users dispel their concerns, and promote the growth and development of both production and sales.

From the perspective of enterprises, it is necessary to seize new consumption trends. The current RV customer profile is changing, especially after the epidemic. In the past two years, the RV consumer group has shown a clear trend of getting younger. "Nowadays, more young people like to travel while working. Buying an RV is not expensive and can solve the problem of transportation and accommodation. It is very convenient for travel on weekends and holidays. This trend shows us that the young group is our future market potential." Huang Jian said that the product development of his company will also tend to be younger.

Technological advances in intelligence and new energy are also gradually solving the disadvantages of RVs that consumers are concerned about. "At present, RVs are basically equipped with lithium batteries with 7-14 kWh of electricity and 120L-150L water tanks to meet the daily electricity and water needs of RV travel for a day and a night," said Jiang Chao.

In addition to the improvement of self-sustaining power, the intelligence level of RV software is also improving. "Many functions such as collision warning, lane departure, adaptive cruise control, and intelligent voice systems used in cars have also been gradually applied to RV driving and control systems. In addition, we have further applied and improved safety functions such as the RV night stay sentry system and six-way monitoring, which have attracted much attention from consumers, to ensure that RVs are more intelligent and safe to use." said Chen Zongxiang, sales director of Weihang RV.

"With the development of our economy and the gradual change in people's travel concepts, and the improvement of road facilities, the prospects for the RV market are still very good. Especially in the central and western regions, as our supporting facilities are put in place, including the reduction in travel costs brought about by the development of new energy, RVs have a promising future." Feng Chunhua suggested that car owners should cultivate civilized travel habits, and government departments need to promote campsite construction, innovate RV service measures, find and promote advanced experiences from all over the country, and find new profit models for new business formats while promoting solutions to problems such as difficulty in long-term parking, charging and replenishing water.

Xinhua Daily·Jiaohuidian reporter Chen Yuefei Fang Siwei Cui Hao Fu Qi intern Ji Shuangshi

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