10 Years Of Camping/Outdoor Hospitality Industry Data
Is the camping/outdoor hospitality industry slowing down post-COVID? Lets look at the last 10 years of camping industry data to see what's what.
Check out our community for outdoor hospitality investors - Investor Campfire!
Estimated time to read: 5 minutes
TL;DR:
Source: Kampgrounds of America, Inc.’s (KOA) 2024 Camping & Outdoor Hospitality Report (their 10th annual edition).
New Format: KOA is releasing the report as a series of 10 sections this year.
Pre-COVID: Camping & glamping were growing steadily before the pandemic.
The Pandemic: Camping & glamping exploded in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Post-COVID: 2023 data indicates a return to normalized, pre-COVID camping participation.
Kampgrounds of America, Inc. (KOA) recently released its 2024 Camping & Outdoor Hospitality Report. It is full of valuable data!
Some fast facts from the report, looking at the last 10 years of data:
The camping/outdoor hospitality industry has had a tremendous decade of growth, but these questions remain:
Is the camping/outdoor hospitality industry slowing down post-COVID?
Is all the industry hype due to COVID-related tailwinds?
Will growth continue?
We have seen firsthand that the camping population has become more diverse and younger, which leads to a larger community of campers! While we didn’t operate any parks pre-COVID, we certainly see many return customers.
It is apparent that today’s camping customers are passionate about unplugging outdoors multiple times yearly.
2023 was the 1st year of the last 10 that saw a YoY decrease in households camping.
However, there was still a nearly 28% increase over 2019!
Outdoor hospitality trips have shrunk as a % of all leisure trips since 2021. The assumption here is that some travelers felt safer taking trips outdoors during the height of the pandemic and are now returning to their normal travel behavior.
Camper experience level has changed significantly year over year.
The number of "new campers" exploded in 2020 and has since reverted to normalized levels. Important to note that many campers who started in the past few years have stuck with it!
We saw many proud first-time RVers and tenters at our parks in 2021 and 2022!
Nearly half of all new campers in 2023 were Millennials and Gen Z, which I believe is a strong indicator of continued growth in the industry.
2021 and 2022 saw higher percentages of campers having neutral or negative experiences. Younger generations of campers also had a higher percentage of neutral or negative experiences. Camping is not for everyone!
One of the more interesting takeaways from the report was how KOA projected growth in camping households without the estimated impact of COVID-19.
While numbers seem to be normalizing post-COVID, KOA posits that a significant portion of new COVID campers are now highly engaged campers who will continue camping in the future.
Glamping has exploded since 2021. It seems safe to assume that the industry benefits from the increased interest in outdoor-focused trips, especially among travelers who don’t want the hassle of tenting or RVing and want the comforts and conveniences of hotel-style lodging.
What does it all mean?
There was a big COVID bump in camping and glamping. There is no debating that.
HOWEVER
Outdoor hospitality was a solid, growing industry pre-COVID and appears to be returning to a normalized growth trend.
Also, younger travelers are sticking with camping and clearly love the outdoors. Camping has also become much more diverse.
The future looks bright for the outdoor hospitality industry.
That’s all for this week. Thank you so much for reading!
PS… If you’re enjoying Outdoor Hospitality Weekly, will you take a moment to send this newsletter to a friend? It goes a long way in helping us grow the newsletter (and hopefully help people who want to learn about Outdoor Hospitality).
We’d also love your input on making Outdoor Hospitality Weekly even more useful for you! So please leave a comment with:
Ideas you’d like covered in future editions
Your biggest takeaway from this edition
We read & reply to every single one of them!