How to Set Up a Campsite. A Business for Passionate People

by Laura Mitran · July 11, 2017

Camping is the perfect vacation for those who are tired of the stressful rhythm of city life and are eager to get away, but on a low budget. You’d obviously have to be passionate about nature, hiking, cooking and eating outdoors. These passions combined with the property of a plot can also be an incentive to start a camping business. Here’s how to set up a campsite and be successful.

If you have a plot of land in an area with high touristic potential, all you have to do is build an enclosure, a few stone paths to mark each allotment for the tents, a stone platform for trailers and lavatories, and you can go into business. If the electricity network passes close-by, then you’re in luck, because you can really start this business on a low budget.

How to set up a campsite. Organizing your plot

Every campsite is organized in camping allotments. Each allotment is a surface of land where there’s room to park, set up a tent or park a trailer as well and for 4 people to sit and move around. Campsites can also include small wood houses or bungalows for accommodation.

According to the legislation, it’s necessary to ensure controlled access into the campsite, 24 hours security, drinking water and lavatories.

You can also add a cooking and eating area, as well as other facilities, from pools to sports grounds.

At least 15% of your campsite surface has to be covered with trees or shrubs.

Promoting your campsite

For successfully running this business in Romania, speaking English is mandatory, as a great part of the campers in the country are foreign tourists.

It’s important to have a website, with an English version too, to present the service you offer, as well as the attractions in the area, transportation facilities etc.

Bartering with travel agencies around the country, gas stations and shops in the area can be very beneficial. A nicely designed flyer with all the right information distributed in all these places will prove very efficient.

How to set up a campsite. Examples

Here are some original concepts for campsites you’ll find in Romania.

Luxury campsite

In Nucsoara, Arges department (south), the first luxury campsite in Romania was established. Ursa Mica Glamping Resort comprises 10 tents set up on individual wooden platforms and furnished with 4 small beds each. Tourists can take outdoors hot baths in barrels. The power in the campsite is provided by solar panels, and water comes from the springs nearby.

Campsite with yurts

If you want to be out in the wild, but don’t care much for tents, you can sleep in a yurt, at the campsite in Campu Cetatii, Mures department (center). These are traditional dwellings used by Mongolian nomads.

20 of them are at Campu Cetatii, in an alpine scenery near the more famous resort Sovata. They are furnished with beds, painted rustic furniture and equipped with a cooking stove. There are also barrels with hot salty water and a sauna on the campsite.

Natura Parc

Natura Parc campsite in Chichis, Covasna department (center), situated near the city of Brasov, is more of a resort in itself, which lays on about 400 acred. Tourists are accommodated in stilt houses, Native American style tents or bungalows. They can also set up their own tent on a plot.