Chongqing- At 7 o'clock this morning, Wang Weining was woken up by a cell phone message. There were 300 new messages about his business. As a camping planner, his day always starts with such a rush. In this episode of Faces of Chongqing, we followed Wang Weining, a camping planner in Chongqing, to learn the story behind this burgeoning form of tourism.
In recent years, glamping (glamorous camping) developed rapidly in Chongqing. As a mountain city, Chongqing is blessed with a unique geographical environment to develop the camping industry. Furthermore, since the COVID-19 pandemic is still not over, many businesses consider it the next blue ocean for the tourism industry. Wang Weining's camping club was born under this context.
Wang Weining, a camping planner in Chongqing. (iChongqing/ Yue Xingchen)
Unlike traditional camping, Wang Weining's camping club values more the quality of the tour and a luxurious setup that isn't "roughing it." People who want to camp don't have to worry about packing. They just need to contact his club for quality one-stop camping services. The target audience mainly involves young tourism enthusiasts, families with kids, and outdoor enthusiasts.
Within eight months, Wang has developed two camping bases. One in Beibei District with resident 25 tents, and another in Taisiya Forest Park Shapingba District with 15 resident tents.
Wang Weining was preparing for a camping trip at his Beibei camping base. (iChongqing/ Yue Xingchen)
"It took me three months from the start of preparation to the first order. Two of those months were spent on finding a suitable base with a good environment." Looking back on the early days of his business, Wang Weining is still very excited.
Wang Weining in his Beibei camping base. (iChongqing/ Yue Xingchen)
The rapid spread of social media also plays a significant role in the development of Wang's business. At first, almost all his customers were attracted to social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin. Thus, social media marketing is also an essential work for him. Running these platforms requires constant updating of the product image, so regularly exploring new camping sites is also an important part of his job. Till now, Wang Weining has never stopped driving his car around the mountains of Chongqing in search of a new camping paradise.
At present, Wang Weining enjoys the uncertainty brought by this job. In his own words, he loves teaching more people how to enjoy the charm of nature under the premise of protecting the environment.