Educational camping gains on after-school tutoring

Restructuring spurs startups with eye toward more holistic teaching

Carrying a mattress on her shoulder, a tent on her back and a chair in her hand, 29-year-old education camping entrepreneur Ge Yue climbs a mountain in Chongqing in 40-degree weather, lugging everything up herself to save on labor costs.

As hard as the hike is, Ge feels more excited than tired as she gets ready to set up the next camping activity for a group of pupils.

"We saw almost full bookings during the summer holiday, with orders mainly from schools and tour groups. It was far beyond our expectations, considering we are just a four-month startup. We are lucky to tap into the growing need for education camping in the domestic market," said Ge, who co-founded Chongqing-based education camping startup Starry Woods with Li Kun, whom she met during an outdoor activity event. They were later joined by Zhang Chen, who worked until he acquired the money to buy in.

As the government tightens restrictions on after-school tutoring businesses and COVID-19 has restricted tourism, education camping is emerging as a burgeoning trend among parents in China who seek programs that can educate, entertain and take care of their children during holidays and weekends.

According to a report by the Extramural Education Think Tank, over 80 percent of parents surveyed said they would prefer to cultivate children's comprehensive abilities rather than focus only on test scores. Therefore, experiential education such as camping is gaining increasing popularity among them.

Meanwhile, more families are willing to increase their spending on education camping, the report said.

The report said that education camping, unlike traditional education programs, focuses more on experiential learning, as well as enabling participants to play purposefully and build self-esteem through creative activities, such as games and sports. The goal is to help young people build confidence, become more independent and improve their social skills.

"Many parents that I have contact with believe that spending more time in nature, doing physical activities and socializing with others are good for their kids, as many children today are hooked on electronic devices," Ge said.

The EETT report estimated that, buoyed by growing demand, China's education camping market is likely to surpass 100 billion yuan ($14.6 billion) between 2023 and 2028.

Qi Ming, a 41-year-old mom of two elementary school children in Beijing, said that she and her husband are "happy to find a place where our kids can have fun and learn, especially when we are busy working and have no time to take care of the kids during holidays".

Qi spent nearly 50,000 yuan on an outer-space-themed bilingual tutoring summer camp of 13 days for her two children.

"The kids are eager to go outside after self-isolation measures due to resurgence of COVID-19. They were excited to have a fun learning experience that they couldn't get from schools. They also made new friends."

She said the camp staff's educational backgrounds and work experience were important to her. "We want our kids to learn and have fun, but we first need to be certain that the staff is professional enough to ensure our kids' safety while out in nature. There are increasing numbers of education camping businesses in China with different qualities, making it hard to choose."

According to data from Tianyancha, a Chinese corporate information provider, there are about 43,000 companies that run businesses related to education camping or outdoor activities. Among those, about 39 percent of education-camping related companies have registered capital lower than 1 million yuan, and over 70 percent were founded in the past five years.

The number of education-camping related companies in Guangdong province surpassed 5,700 as of last month, topping the country and accounting for about 13.5 percent of the country's total. Jiangsu and Anhui provinces followed.

According to Duojing Capital, an investment bank with a focus on the education sector, China's restrictions on after-school tutoring businesses have restructured the entire education industry, with education camping being a focus of the business transition. Those that have successfully transitioned their businesses have faced new challenges like innovating products and ensuring participants' safety.

With a surging number of new businesses coming into the industry, Ge said it is necessary for new companies to set up mechanisms to ensure children's safety, such as arranging hygiene checks for lunch boxes and water bottles several times a day, and checking whether they have been bitten by insects and snakes.

"These seem to be trivial things, but if you don't do them, you might wake up the next day finding 20 children with a sore throat, and maybe one after another will catch a cold."

Ge said her company has a system that guarantees children's safety, including staff training, regular checks of camp facilities, grounds and water supply, fire prevention, first aid and insurance purchases.

"Before founding the company, I was a project manager at a top education camping company and was very familiar with safety processes. Other companies in the industry that I know have all established strict mechanisms to guarantee participants' safety. A simple mistake in the industry would lead to huge negative results and we can't afford that."

"We still have a lot to do to improve safety mechanisms. The industry is also expecting regulations and routine checks from the government, especially when it has seen a surging number of new businesses and some of them lack qualified professionals or well-developed mechanisms to ensure safety," she said.

The rapidly developing education camping market has been backed by a slew of supportive policies. In 2020, a National Forestry and Grassland Administration-affiliated organization launched a program to encourage over half of the nation's teenagers to participate in research, education and recreational activities in forests by 2025.

The organization called for cooperation among governments, organizations and businesses to innovate on related regulation mechanisms. It also urged the improvement of current camping bases, including infrastructure and operational systems.

More importantly, it specified that a mechanism to efficiently avoid and deal with accidents, as well as punish those responsible, is needed. It called on schools to highlight safety education for students, and forestry and grassland departments to set a bar for new businesses and check and evaluate their services.

Growing numbers of new businesses in the sector and rising demand from parents have attracted the attention of investors. According to the EETT report, tourism real estate, such as featured townships and resorts, as well as travel agencies, are actively seeking partnerships with education camping businesses to generate growth. Local governments also welcome the novel businesses as they increase employment and boost the economy.

Ge said that since their business started running in May, five investors have reached out and said they are willing to make an investment. The business has also received a lot of support from the government of Wenfeng, a nearby village.

"The Party chief of the village launched an infrastructure program a few years ago on the mountain where we are currently located, in an attempt to attract education camping entrepreneurs like us. They invested over 1 million yuan in building roads, public restrooms, camping bases, etc. We are lucky to benefit from these measures," Ge said.

In return, Ge and her colleagues hired villagers to cook and clean. Their business' cooperation with travel agencies has also helped attract new tourists to the mountain, who spend on dining and accommodation in the village, which creates jobs and business opportunities for locals.

"It's a win-win process. As far as I know, many nearby villages and counties are replicating our cooperation model to boost the income of local residents and cultivate the development of the education camping industry as a new revenue source," Ge said.

Looking ahead, Ge said she is confident that their business will soon profit, and is likely to earn about 1 million yuan in the next year.

"Instead of trying to earn quick money, our team focuses more on content development and innovative class design, which is more important to our brand's long-term and sustainable development.

"The best thing that happened last month is that my parents, who were not sure about me quitting a decent job in the first place, now see the potential of the industry and have changed their views and even made an investment in my business," she said.