I have been researching the history of glamping, where, who, when, why and have come up with some information that I want to share with you. So, Glamping itself was created by combining two words, "glamorous" and "camping", resulting in the name glamping, a word that is new to many, but what comes through it is not new at all.
The word itself appeared in the United Kingdom in 2005, was adopted more widely only after 2010, and entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 2016.
It is a concept that belongs to adventure tourism and offers a balance between adventure and comfort. Instead of classic tents and classic camping, tourists choose more luxurious tents, domes, wooden houses or mobile homes, equipped like hotels with comfortable beds, air conditioning, internet, toilets, and often additional amenities such as swimming pools, wellness, restaurants and the like, depending on the concept.
They say that today's interest in glamping dates back to luxury safari camps in Africa and Thailand, and you can also find legends that say that glamping was practiced in its own way as early as the 16th century, so there is a story about the Scottish Earl of Atholl, when he erected tents filled with everything that adorned his palace in the highlands for King James V and his mother, only that it was in the middle of the wilderness. Or an even greater example is the Field of the Cloth of Gold from 1520, when Francis I and Henry VIII erected almost 2,800 tents and luxurious pavilions, and the fountains flowed with wine instead of water. So, the concept of glamping was applied in a unique way even then, only today, through the tourism industry, we have shaped it and given it a specific name.
It may be interesting to mention that it is perhaps the largest dome in this part of Europe, and someone please correct me if I accidentally made an oversight, in Hall 3 of the Belgrade Fair.
The glamping movement even has its own unofficial slogan: “Think outside the tent.” And really, who would have thought that today there are over 16 types of glamping, or variations of glamping facilities – from tepees, huts, tree houses, domes, to trailers, wagons, etc. Facilities can be “scattered” in a location or closer to each other, as a kind of community.
Here, in the first true glamping oasis in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Dračevo near Trebinje, the choice fell precisely on domes and the "community" option. There are 22 domes of 28 m² each, with additional amenities such as a swimming pool, wellness facility, outdoor gym, communal fireplace, zip line, paintball, space for celebrations and much more.
Each house will have a QR code for ordering food, from meals to packed lunches, so if you prefer, you can even order from your bed. Everything is designed for those who want an authentic nature experience, but still don't want to give up a certain comfort.
Croatia and Slovenia were, as expected, the first to invest in this type of accommodation, and today you can find different variations of glamping there. The fact that, when it comes to Glamping Oasis Dračevo, it is truly the first such community in Bosnia and Herzegovina is also evidenced by the fact that on key websites that promote and offer only and exclusively glamping as an accommodation option, not a single option is currently offered, while on other, classic accommodation search sites we can find sporadic cases where one or two facilities are offered.
Practice shows that tourists from Western Europe, as far as our continent is concerned, are the main "travelers" and there is no doubt that this type of accommodation will be the most interesting for them, especially since it is a capacity that can accommodate more guests at the same time while offering them a lot of content on the location itself. All in all, a great idea, created for a specific type of guest at first glance, but then you realize that there is no such person who would say that they do not like nature and the natural environment, but it may be that they are not inclined to camping, and this is for those people who are looking for an authentic experience without sacrificing comfort, so we reach a wider spectrum of users, although I can almost certainly say that the main guests will be foreign tourists.
An important factor in all of this is the location of the settlement itself, which is a common point in Herzegovina, through a village that belongs to Trebinje, and yet only a few kilometers from Vjetrenica, the largest and most beautiful cave in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Zavala, the most beautiful Orthodox monastery in our country, and all of this just half an hour from the Adriatic coast.