Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 9th. Title: When a car becomes a "mobile home": This way of traveling becomes popular
Xinhua News Agency’s “Xinhua Viewpoint” reporters Zhang Shenbo and Bao Qingling
When you open your eyes, you can see mountains, rivers, lakes and seas, and when you look up, you can see the sky full of stars. Fold down the rear seats and cover them with mattresses, and it becomes a "bedroom"; put up a canopy at the rear of the car, and you have a "living room"; connect the external discharge to an electric cooker, a coffee machine, and even a projector, and an ordinary family car becomes a miniature camp...
During the holidays, more and more people are trying this new way of traveling. On social platforms such as Xiaohongshu, the number of views on topics related to "bed and car travel" has exceeded 100 million.
From niche to trendy, from standardized accommodation to immersive experience, when travel accommodation is no longer limited to hotels, how far can "home" on wheels travel?
"Poetry and Distance" in the Car
As the sun sets, the Tianjin Mandu RV camping ground lights up with dots of lights, dotted among the green space, creating a full atmosphere.
During the National Day holiday, tourist Mr. Wang and his family drove to Tianjin from Shandong and rested here. In addition to being able to park vehicles, the camp also has supporting services such as water and electricity supplies, and public toilets. Wu Zhenchuan, the camp director, said that reservations for campsites during the National Day holiday began in mid-August, "and it's very popular."
Mr. Zhao from Xi'an and his family drove a pure electric car to travel to Gannan. "The car is our mobile home. We can enjoy the scenery during the day, and park at the observation deck parking lot or camping spot at night. The seats can be folded down to become beds. The main expenses are tolls, charging and meals, which are more than half the cost of staying in a hotel."
The so-called bed-car travel mainly refers to the use of ordinary passenger cars to provide temporary sleeping conditions by folding down the seats, adding mattresses, blackout curtains and other simple storage equipment, thereby replacing hotel accommodation.
Mr. Wang, who has many years of self-driving experience, said: "New energy vehicles have no worries about electricity consumption and have parking air conditioning. Nowadays, many car companies also attach great importance to self-driving travel functions, making the rear seats flat or expanding storage space to continuously improve travel comfort."
The reporter learned that B&B hotels around popular scenic spots often cost hundreds or thousands of yuan a night during the peak season, while the charging and parking fees for a bed and cart are only 20 to 30 yuan a night; the accommodation fees saved can be used to upgrade catering, purchase in-depth experience projects, etc.
Ms. Fang from Anhui shared with reporters the most touching moment during the trip: "Sleeping in the car is a special experience, especially on rainy days. Staying in the car and listening to the sound of raindrops makes you feel very at ease."
The deeper change is consumer psychology. In the past, travel often required a closed loop of "departure-hotel-attraction-return", but now bed-car travel has turned the route into an open map. Car owners can park by the scenery at any time and are no longer bound by check-in or check-out times.
Gui Bin, director of the Silk Road Travel Service Research Institute, analyzed that the popularity of bed-and-car travel is the result of the intertwined evolution of technological dividends, economic rationality and the transformation of consumption concepts: "Consumers are transitioning to consumption that pursues autonomy and personalized experience. They value the freedom of exploration of 'where the car is parked, the scenery is' and are less willing to pay for premium services and business routines."
How to undertake new demands
The popularity of bed and truck travel is spreading from the consumer side to the supply side.
Spaces such as campsites and highway service areas have begun to adjust their functions to meet the new demands brought about by the "overnight economy".
Zhang Yong, the founder and manager of Houci Agarwood RV Camp in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, told reporters that the number of reservations, receptions and admissions to the camp this year has exceeded 10,000, so reservation and diversion management measures can only be adopted; among them, the growth of the campground group is particularly intuitive in the camp data.
Zhang Yong said that the proportion of bed trucks in the camp has increased from less than 10% to more than 40%, and most of them are new energy vehicles. Bed cars have relatively simple functions and limited internal space. They rely more on supporting facilities such as toilets and showers around the camp, which forces the camp to continuously improve services.
The Ministry of Commerce and other nine departments’ notice on several measures to cultivate and expand the automobile aftermarket consumption also mentioned improving the level of supporting services for RV campsites. Combined with regional cultural and tourism resources, encourage the construction of a number of high-standard, multi-functional RV campsites along scenic routes, in urban suburbs and other areas, and improve supporting services such as maintenance and supply, water and electricity security, medical rescue, catering and accommodation. When a city builds or renovates a public parking lot, special parking spaces for self-propelled RVs and trailer-type RVs can be set up and management strengthened if conditions permit, to better meet RV parking needs.
The changes in the high-speed service area are equally obvious. In the past, the service area only served "passing buses", but now it has gradually begun to serve "overnight buses".
The Qujiang Service Area of Shaanxi Traffic Control Service Management Group is about 20 minutes' drive from scenic spots such as Qujiang Pond Heritage Park and Big Wild Goose Pagoda. It has become the first choice for parking for many tourists passing through or arriving in Xi'an.
Lei Huan, manager of the Qujiang service area, observed that in recent years, the number of bed trucks parked in the service area has increased significantly. "In the past, there were only a few beds per day. During the National Day this year, the average daily number of bed trucks and RVs can reach more than 300."
Lei Huan introduced that the service area has a relatively quiet area with more than 40 parking spaces, and security guards guide the bed cars to park. "There are multiple water supply methods in the service area to serve the different needs of drivers and passengers; there are also 16 fast-charging guns, available 24 hours a day." The stay time of bed car tourists generally ranges from 1 to 5 days, which is much longer than the stay time of traditional drivers and passengers within 6 hours, which also drives the service area to continuously improve its business level.
Make "mobile home" workable and live safely
The rapid growth of bed-car travel not only enriches tourism consumption patterns, but also raises new issues for tourists’ safety awareness, service supply and industry standard management.
For tourists, safety and compliance are the bottom line. Guibin said that according to the Road Traffic Safety Law and related regulations, no unit or individual is allowed to change the registered structure of a motor vehicle without authorization. "The vehicle is a 'house' when it is stopped. Do not lie down, remove the seat, or damage the structure while driving. This is the red line."
In response to the situation where some travelers park their vehicles in open public areas to obtain supporting resources, many cities have issued management notices to further regulate parking orders and prohibit the setting up of tents, setting up tables and chairs, privately transporting water and electricity, and dumping sewage in public areas. Experts interviewed suggested that more detailed management rules can be formulated for overnight stays on bed trucks, and overnight supporting products with low prices and clear rights and responsibilities can be provided to better meet the needs of tourists.
Zhang Yong said that the camp is negotiating with the power department and commercial charging pile companies to build charging piles to meet the energy replenishment needs of new energy bed vehicles. Lei Huan said that the service area will focus on the needs of drivers and passengers, continuously improve public service facilities such as charging, improve the quality of management services, and explore linkages with surrounding scenic spots to provide value-added services such as travel route guidance.
In response to the situation that parking lots in some scenic spots are tight during the day and idle at night, Lu Shan, deputy secretary-general of the Tianjin Self-Driving Tour and RV Camping Association, believes that large parking lots in scenic spots can consider opening overnight areas, "parking normally during the day and turning into campsites at night, so that one place can be used for dual purposes."
Faced with the migration and structural changes in consumption scenarios brought about by bed-car travel, Guibin believes that although tourists save on accommodation fees, they extend their stay at the destination and increase their purchases of surrounding restaurants, specialty agricultural products, and cultural and creative products. By promoting the construction of "open service areas" on highways, passing "traffic flow" can be transformed into nighttime "passenger flow", further activating the local nighttime economy.
In terms of regional collaboration, feasible paths have been explored in some places. Lu Shan introduced that Tianjin has formed a management mechanism that is linked by multiple committees and bureaus to achieve departmental coordination from scenic area management, camp management to vehicle management. The cultural and tourism departments of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei have jointly introduced regional standards for self-driving stations since 2019. By the end of 2025, more than 80 pilot units have been listed.
As tourists' choices become increasingly diversified, both industrial development and urban management must seize real needs in new trends and continuously improve services and supporting facilities. How far the "home" on wheels can be driven ultimately depends on whether safety guarantees can be ensured and whether public services can keep up. (over)
