Things are changing quickly in the Chinese economy. There are big changes occuring, but less spectacular ones could be as important. Tourism is developping and encouraged by the authoroties that are willing to develop whole new sectors of the interior market. The Chinese middle class is growing and new habits are appearing. Tourism is developing fast but the touristic habits are still quite classic, whole areas in the country are still to be developed.
A brand new idea in China: camping. The Chinese authorities were willing to develop this new kind of tourism and they have been looking for SMEs in Europe to introduce it in China. This is a brabd nbew adventure for two companies Huttopia and Indigo. The mission assigned to these two companies: develop camping in the whole of China, nothing less.
This is a great success for this company that has 200 employees in France so far, corresponding to 40 camping sites. The new adventure in China is about opening 30 sites within a year, one is already running, the 29 other ones are planned. This is a strong beginning for the company, but a small step forward for the Chinese economy. This corresponds to the official position of the governement and the new measures that are going to be implemented in the frame of economic reforms.
Céline Bossane, the CEO and founder of Huttopia is enthousiastic “ everything is going so fast”! Camping almost doesn’t exist in the middle kingdom but should be easy to develop since it corresponds to a demand for new individual tourism. China has a lot of scenic places and spectacular lansdcapes that would fit camping and that are not being used today. Something brand new for Chinese people more accustomed to tourism in apartments.
The first site with a capacity of 400 slots is opening in Sichuan province. A joint venture has been created with the Sichuan tourism group, a state agency in charge of the development of tourism that should be in charge of the investments. Chinese executives are now being formed in France to help develop this new form of tourism.
On the first site there will be 150 places for rent, tents or bungalows, and 250 empty slots. One of the trouble is that it might be necessary to explain to the first customers how to set up a tent, a shop might be necessary on the site with camping items if the Chinese customers do not have them.
The starkest challenge will be to convince Chinese customers of the appeal of camping.
Source : Le Figaro
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