How Do Glamping Companies Identify New Destinations?

Glamping companies use GIS-based site suitability analysis, location intelligence, and MCDA to systematically identify and rank potential locations.

Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping

Potential areas are mapped by companies to understand existing forests, lakes, mountains, beaches, tourist attractions, roads, airports, and accommodation.

Tourist-demand analysis

Location-intelligence data shows where tourists come from, how far they travel, search interest, visitor volumes, and nearby attractions. Areas with strong tourism demand but limited accommodation can receive higher scores.

Accessibility assessment

GIS can calculate driving time from major cities, airports, railway stations, and highways. A remote scenic site may score poorly if customers require excessive travel time.

Environmental suitability

Companies assess terrain, elevation, climate, vegetation, water availability, flood zones, wildfire risk, and protected areas to determine whether the site is physically suitable for glamping.

Regulatory screening

Land-use restrictions, protected areas, zoning, and development regulations can be incorporated to eliminate locations where construction or tourism activity is restricted.

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) scoring

Each factor is assigned a weight based on its importance. For example, tourism demand may receive a higher weight than proximity to an airport. Each candidate location receives a score across these criteria.

Suppose a glamping company is considering three locations near a mountain tourism region:

Note: The above table is for reference purpose only.

MCDA assigns weights to these factors and may identify Location B as the best opportunity despite its poorer road access because its very high scenic appeal, strong tourism demand, low competition, and high land availability outweigh the accessibility constraint.