In North America, that of the great parks and wilderness, camping and outdoor tourism are musts, but positive trends are never a given. In the past decade, however, the American open-air hospitality landscape has undergone significant transformations and an increase in demand. Confirming this is the 2024 Camping & Outdoor Hospitality Report by Kampgrounds of America , a comprehensive series of reports that take an in-depth look at the outdoor tourism industry.
The analysis
The total number of U.S. and Canadian camping households increased by 23 percent, while active camping households grew by a remarkable 68 percent.
Demographically, campers have become younger (nearly half of campers as of 2022 are under 35 years old, up from 30 percent in 2014). In addition, these ten years have been marked by strong growth in the number of families camping with children.
The pre and post covid
From KOA research, the outdoor hospitality sector grew steadily in the first six years before COVID 19 also changed the dimension of open-air tourism. During the pandemic, camping was one of the few options available to travelers in the U.S. and Canada, even for those used to staying in luxury hotel facilities.
This type of clientele also opted for compromise and chose an outdoor experience. This has resulted in a surge for Glamping facilities, an open-air tourism proposition that offers exclusive stays and the best services in nature.
In the pre-pandemic versions of the annual KOA survey from Covid19, this type of structure was not included as a subcategory of the report, and was not evaluated. It is now a prominent category among campground accommodations, with 15.6 million new admissions in the past five years.
A new, previously little-known trend also emerged in 2023: 80 percent of campers participated in “Blended Travel”, i.e., the trend of integrating camping with other forms of travel, such as hotel or resort stays, lodges, or vacation homes, reflecting the versatility of camping trips in the traveler’s toolkit.
Another interesting finding from the KOA 2024 report, especially during the pandemic, is thesignificant increase in campers. RV ownership has increased significantly so have rentals, which have more than doubled.
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