Ladies and gentlemen,
First of all let me introduce myself as Secretary General of the F.I.C.C. Asia-Pacific Commission and Executive Director of Japan Autocamping Federation.
In this presentation, first I would like to review the history of camping and caravanning in Japan by showing some historical pictures. Secondly, I will point out key factors for campground construction also along with particular pictures so that you may have a concrete image. Finally, I would like to make my prediction for the future development of the camping culture and industry in China.
Let me start my presentation by explaining the key concepts. “Camping” means in principle using a tent. People carry a tent and other camping equipment in a vehicle to a particular destination, where they enjoy the outdoor life and stay in a tent at night. “Caravanning” is touring by means of a “caravan”, which is either a camping trailer towed by a vehicle, or a “motorcaravan”, which is a self-propelled caravan. In Japan, we include all these forms of camping in a concept of “autocamping”. Since this is a very practical word I will use the term “autocamping” also in my presentation.
Now I would like to take a look at the history of development of autocamping in Japan. It might be interesting to compare it with the socioeconomic development in China.
Autocamping first appeared in Japan in the 1960s, when the economy was growing rapidly and disposable incomes were rising. In addition, the growing use of personal cars and construction of highways made it easier to travel by car. These drastic changes in society were the background to the birth of autocamping. Increasing numbers of people were going camping in their personal cars, importing camping vehicle from overseas, or converting their cars for camping use by themselves who became later so called “coach builder”
Against this background, the Japan Autocamping Federation, JAC for short was established in 1969. During this period, the 1st leisure tent was developed in 1961 and the 1st autocamping site was built in 1966.
Rapid economic growth ended in the 1970s due to the dollar shock, oil crisis, and appreciation of Japanese yen. However, ladies and gentlemen, these economically disadvantageous situations were not negative for autocamping at all, quite the contrary in fact. Because working hours were shortened due to the elimination of overwork time and so consequently leisure time increased. People valued leisure more than work and think of their family more than their company. Thus people tended to spend time with their family in the nature.
In 1970 JAC was accepted in FICC, Federation of International Camping and Caravanning first from Asian region.During this period, the JAC held the first camping show in Japan in 1970. and the first Japan Autocamping Rally was held in 1971.
As the economy started to stabilize in the 1980s, working hours continued to get shorter, and there was a shift from money-consumed leisure such as luxurious packaged tour to time-consumed leisure such as camping and caravanning. People’s awareness of health and environment also grew. They started to value a spiritually enriched life and began pursuing leisure activities as a means of self-realization. With these changes, autocamping became even more popular. The auto camper population also doubled from 4 million in 1984 to 8 million (that is.2 million families) in 1989 within five years.During this period, an F.I.C.C. Rally was held in 1983, for the first time in Asia.
In the first half-decade of the 1990's a "Bubble Economy" brought a huge autocamping boom in Japan, with the autocamper population reaching 15 million. Local and central governments started to build campsites and high-standard public campsites appeared around the country. Even a local supermarket sold camping products and sales volume of camping equipment reached 7.6 billion yen. The number of registered RV reached 300,000 units. Various outdoor-related magazines were published, and information started to become available through the Internet which made the autocamping accessible to everybody.During this period the 55th FICC rally was held as the second FICC international rally in Japan and the 3rd FICC Asia-Pacific Rally was held.
With the collapse of the bubble economy and the consequent economic stagnation the autocamping boom came to an end. The auto camper population decreased significantly. However, in the 2000s, the camper population has stabilized at around 8 million. Each year, about 40,000 people in their 30's and 40's with kids join the auto camping. In addition a growing number of couples who have finished raising children, so-called “senior campers”, go camping by themselves which is a very common sight in Europe and US.
For these reasons we could say that the autocamping in Japan has moved from a growth phase to a mature phase. Now in Japan, the autocamping is considered as part of daily life and as a life style, rather than a momentary form of leisure. It is practiced from the childhood over young family generation up to seniors. Today the autocamping is recognized as a national pastime in Japan.
Now we are coming to Campground construction. As all speakers pointed out, in order for the autocamping to be popularized, modern auto camping sites are inevitable as the platform for the camping activities. Since many auto camping sites are expected to be built in the near future, I’d like to point out some design elements which must be taken in consideration when constructing campsites.
In Japan there are about 1300 auto camping sites and only 9 campsites are qualified with five stars which certify the highest standard on the international level. You see her just two examples, one is Daigo Green Villa located in the mountain area, and Ryuyou Auto Camp along the sea side.
First I would like to focus on the architectural aspect of design elements which are essential for campsites to be called as autocamping sites. They are manly Administration building, Tent site, Caravan site, Accommodation and Open space.
On arriving at the campsite the first place that visitors would go is the administration building. They check-in at this building. It works also as clubhouse where campers get together to have a talk , and it may have a small shop where you can buy some food and consumables like camping gas, battery cells etc.
After having checked-in, you would go to tent sites if you are a tent camper. The tent sites are basically divided into two types: free sites and individual sites. Since there is no separator at the free sites, they are extremely open and campers can keep a huge site to themselves during off-season. But exactly the contrary during high season.
In the individual sites, pitches are separated from each other with plants or wooden fence. So. at the separated sites, the privacy can be enjoyed to a certain extent. Each pitch has the space for parking a car which is paved with stones or asphalt and the space for placing a tent which is covered with grass.
The caravan sites are specialized for parking caravans or motor caravans. A pitch must be equipped with a hookup for electricity, drinking water and waste water. In the vicinity of the caravan site you need also a dump station where you can dump sewage direct from your caravan or from the cassette toilet taken out of caravans.
Many campsites have accommodation facilities. Campers prefer them because they save troubles when it is raining. The particularly simple accommodation facility which is may be called “bungalow” while it is called “cottage” if equipped with beds, restrooms, showers and air-conditioners.
In many cases, trailers are used as permanent accommodation facility. Most of them are fully equipped like cottage.
Open space is also necessary as playground for children. Children must be offered possibility to play as much as they like when camping.
So far I pointed out some design elements of autocamping sites from the architectural aspect. But for the autocamping sites the operational aspect is important as well. Unlike campsites for training of the youth, autocamping sites are enjoyed by a wide range of people including toddlers and the elderly so they must be safe, clean, and comfortable. Furthermore, autocamping sites must be in harmony with the nature. It is also desirable that they be made barrier-free so that even people with disabilities can enjoy camping.
For security, the campsite area and the external area should be clearly divided with gates and fences so that outsiders cannot get in. Some campsites are equipped with automatic blockers at the entrance to prevent cars that have not checked-in from entering the site. It is also necessary to station a campsite manager at the site 24 hours a day for emergency case.
autocamping sites must be clean. In particular, their restrooms and kitchens have to be kept completely clean all the time.
Autocamping Sites must be comfortable. In Japan, 100% of autocamping sites are equipped with hot water showers and toilets with flush. Many campsites also have coin laundries including washers and dryers.
Although roads and buildings are constructed in the natural setting within autocamping sites, it is essential that the destruction of nature be kept as minimum as possible. The appearance of buildings should also be consistent with the surrounding nature, and roads within the property should be laid out in harmony with natural geography.
It is important that autocamping sites be designed to be barrier-free so that people with disabilities can use the sites as well. Restrooms and other buildings should be equipped with gradual slopes for wheel-chair users. Toilet seats must also be designed to be usable to wheel-chair users.
So far I have given you an overview of the development of autocamping in Japan as well as the essential design elements of the campsites. From those considerations we could conclude that there are several key factors for the birth and development of autocamping. They are:
(1)Industrialization
The industrialization must have been advanced so that the level of income increases to spend on leisure.
(2)Urbanization
Also the urbanization has to be advanced so that more and more city people get desire to go outdoors and be in natural surroundings with their family.
(3)Motorization
The motorization promotes more people to have their own cars. It also promotes the construction and expansion of highways which make it easier to travel by car.
(4)Middle class
The mainstream of people who enjoy autocamping is the middle class. Therefore, a middle class must be formed in order for autocamping to develop.
Now I could say all the above mentioned preconditions required for the development of autocamping already exist in China. Industrialization and motorization are already well underway. Sales of automobiles in China exceeded 10 million units in 2009 making it the country with the highest number of automobile sales in the world.
China has overtaken Japan as the second biggest economy in terms of GDP. As a result of the high economic growth we are beginning to see the emergence of a middle class in Chinese society. It will be the core demographic group who will enjoy camping and play an important role in its development.
In this regard, we could say that China is now in the same situation as Japan was during the 1960’s, when the economy was growing rapidly and autocamping was first becoming popular.
However, I could predict that the development of autocamping in China will be significantly faster than in Japan. One reason for this is there is already a camping industry in China. China produces a great deal of camping equipment according to specifications defined by Japanese manufacturers. More than 90 percent of camping gears are produced in China and exported to Japan. Therefore Chinese manufactures have sufficient know-how to produce top-quality camping equipment.
As for camping vehicles, there are already a plenty of domestic RV manufactures in China. But the demand can be met only 40% by the domestic supply so you import a large number of RV from Europe and US.
In addition, China’s population is about 10 times the size of Japan’s, so I am quite sure that, compared to Japan, a much greater number of people will start to enjoy autocamping in China soon.
China’s land area is also about 25 times bigger than Japan’s. Unlike Japan which is surrounded by the sea, China is a continent. If you take the Silk Road, you can travel overland as far as the Middle East and Europe, making it possible to tour the entire Eurasian Continent.
Based on these background factors, I believe that autocamping will grow very rapidly in popularity here in China, and I am sure that China will very soon be the world-leader in the field of camping and caravanning.
Thank you for your attention.
August 2012 (Symposium at National Agriculture Exhibition Center Beijing, China)