Demand for Park Models, Cabins & Yurts Grows

Private campgrounds and RV parks and resorts are continuing their move into the accommodations business with park models, yurts and site-built cabins, despite continued difficulties obtaining financing in many cases.

The reasons are clear: Rental accommodations broaden a park’s business base while generating at least two to five times as much income as a traditional RV site, depending on the park’s location.

At Yosemite Pines RV Resort & Family Lodging in Groveland, Calif., for instance, 26 park models and eight yurts generate nearly as much income as its 181 RV sites combined, according to park co-owner John Croce. That’s roughly five times the income of a typical RV site.

In the 465-park Kampgrounds of America Inc. (KOA) network of franchised and corporate-operated parks, in turn, recreational park trailers account for two percent of campsites, but generate 6% of income, or triple the typical RV site revenue, according to Mike Atkinson, KOA’s director of lodging.

And while the recession has hammered the hotel industry, private park operators have found that their rental accommodations have remained resilient. KOA alone saw a 14% increase in “same store” park model rental income from 2008 to 2009, Atkinson said.

This kind of market success with campground rental accommodations is spawning intensifying competition among park model manufacturers as they vie with one other to provide private parks with increasingly attractive, competitively priced units.

And that competition more than likely heated up last fall when Jackson Center, Ohio-based Thor Industries Inc. announced a new strategic partnership with the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds (ARVC) to provide rental-lodging at special discounted pricing for ARVC’s nearly 4,000 affiliated parks.

“The immediate response since we made the announcement last fall has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Shane Ott, Thor’s director of campground relations. “We’ve literally had dozens of serious inquiries regarding both park model and travel trailer rental options.”

The ARVC-Thor partnership involves “ruggedized” park models and travel trailers tailored for rental use by Thor’s Breckenridge, Airstream Inc. and Keystone RV Co. subsidiaries.

Possibly adding to the impact of that new partnership is the possibility of Thor finalizing terms of finance package with “a major financial institution” that could sweeten the deal by helping ARVC campground owners obtain financing for Thor’s campground lodging products, Ott said a press time.

Cavco Pursues Eastern Market

With Fleetwood’s Virginia Plant

Meanwhile, one of the nation’s largest park model manufacturers, Phoenix, Ariz.-based Cavco Industries, has ratcheted up its competitive edge by developing its first ever East Coast manufacturing presence with the acquisition of an 80,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Rocky Mount, Va., which it acquired through its purchase of Fleetwood Homes. The plant helps Cavco significantly reduce its park model shipping costs for its Eastern U.S. customers, since the company’s other park model manufacturing plants are in Texas and Arizona.

Tim Gage, vice president of Cavco’s specialty division, said the Rocky Mount plant has been a boon for KOA’s East Coast franchisees, who can now order custom designed Kamping Lodges with lower shipping costs than they could in the past from Cavco – a preferred KOA provider.

KOA, in fact, is increasingly embracing park model accommodations. While KOA parks have traditionally provided their guests with site built cabins and cottages, Atkinson said the company’s focus today is on fully furnished park models. “As we grow our accommodations business, park models are the product of choice over site-built cabins – not because of quality, but because of ease of installation,” he said, adding that KOA expects to have 1,000 park models in place across North America this year, up from 640 in 2009.

Unlike site-built cabins, park models manufactured by members of the Recreational Park Trailer Industry Association (RPTIA) can usually be set up in private parks without building permits because they have an RPTIA inspection seal.

Nor are building permits typically required for travel trailers manufactured and inspected by the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA). Permits are usually required, however, for yurts and site-built or kit cabins.

“The need for building permits (for yurts) will vary depending on the local site, intended use and conditions. But most of the time a permit will likely be needed,” said Pete Dolan, a customer service representative for Pacific Yurts Inc. in Cottage Grove, Ore., adding that the company offers its customers documentation regarding the fire resistance of the yurt materials as well as a structural analysis of snow and wind loads to assist with the permitting process.

“Ultimately,” he said, “(whether or not a permit is needed) will be the local building official’s decision, since the yurt is a unique structure and can fit into a number of different categories within existing building codes.”

Dolan added that Pacific Yurts is seeing growing demand for its products as rental accommodations. “Although it’s only February, we expect our sales figures to be stronger than last year,” Dolan said. “The demand for yurt rental accommodations has been steadily building for the past decade and a half. We are seeing this trend continuing to build steam as more people experience the unique comfort and durability that our product offers.”

Dolan also said the private parks are seeking larger yurts with more amenities, including bathrooms, kitchens and television. “These deluxe accommodations offer the comfort of a deluxe cabin, but still offer a closer connection to the natural environment that tents provide,” he said.

There’s Nothing Like a Rustic

Cabin — Park Model or Not

“Typically, park models don’t appreciate while a custom-built house appreciates,” said Mike Sokol, owner of Distinct Discovery Homes in Greenville, Mich., which specializes in high-end custom log cabins for consumers and private park operators. Units can be built with cathedral ceilings, ponderosa pine interiors, stone fireplaces, and wraparound porches.

“We can build their lodges, their bathhouses and their activity centers,” Sokol said.

Clayton Eash, owner of Ligonier, Ind.-based Riverside Cabins, started building log cabins three years ago after purchasing the business from his father-in-law. He said he started building custom log cabins for campgrounds to use as rental units last year and has had “an amazing amount of calls” after promoting his log cabins in WCM.

Eash uses white pine logs and believes that his structures will last longer than park models. “They’re built a lot stronger,” he said. “I also insulate them. It doesn’t take a lot to heat them.” He also uses log purlins instead of rafters to help support the roof. “People really like them,” he said.

Private park operators thus have a growing array of accommodations products from which to choose, and the list keeps growing as the RV park and campground sector turns toward these types of accommodations. Only time will tell how far this trend will extend, and how much it might ultimately change the face of the business.

“Units for rental purposes are a growing percentage of our business,” said Dick Grymonprez, vice president of marketing for Texas-based Athens Park Homes, whose company announced an agreement this month to provide park models for RVC Outdoor Destinations, which has private parks in Arkansas, Georgia and Florida.

“We’re real encouraged about the number of resorts that are looking at park models as either a rental unit or a unit to sell,” Grymonprez said, adding that the only thing keeping parks from purchasing greater numbers of units is continuing difficulties obtaining financing.

Athens introduced a rental cottage series last year. “It’s a series of units that have 6-foot front porches, Hardiboard siding and very sturdy interiors so they can handle the wear and tear of rental use.”

Breckenridge, Chariot Eagle,

Others Look for Solid 2010

Tim Howard, president and CEO of the Breckenridge Division of Thor’s Damon Corp., Nappanee, Ind., said the recent ARVC-Thor agreement has helped to energize the accommodations market sector. He also sees this year being a turning point of sorts for the park model business, which suffered a decline in sales during the recession along with other segments of the RV business.

“If I was doing a line graph and graphing the overall prevailing business, last year that line would have been headed down. This year it’s heading up,” he said.

Park models utilized as rental units by campgrounds are becoming an increasingly important market segment, according to Chariot Eagle founder and CEO Bob Holliday, whose company has manufacturing operations in Ocala, Fla., and Phoenix, Ariz. Rather than spend money to purchase their own park model, many consumers may be inclined to rent one, he added. Chariot Eagle is also seeing more market optimism among its dealers and retail customers. “We expect business to be better this year than last year, which was the toughest in our 25 years,” he said.

“We see (campground rental products) being a growth market for us,” says Larry Weaver, national sales manager for CrossRoads RV, a Topeka, Ind., Thor subsidiary that introduced a travel trailer at ARVC’s annual InSites Convention in Orlando that has been “beefed up” so that it can be used as a rental unit.

So, too, does Nappanee, Ind.-based Fairmont Homes take an optimistic view of 2010, according to General Manager John Soard.

While 2009 was a tough year, Andy Davis, sales manager for Pinnacle Park Homes, Ochlocknee, Ga., says his company managed to stay profitable through the worst of the recession and is off to a “phenomenal” start this year.

And Western Homes’ Silvercrest Division, a Corona, Calif.-based subsidiary of Champion Enterprises, which has traditionally targeted consumers with its high-end park models, is looking for a continued surge of business from the high quality units the company is providing for timeshare developments in Northern California and Arizona. “These units are designed as rental units,” says Western Homes General Manager Al Whitehouse. “That’s why the timeshares have come to us. They sell at intervals, a week at a time, and they are specifically interested in the durability of the units.”

Michigan Parks Featured on KOA 2010 Directory Cover

Professional photography taken in the fall of 2009 at three Kampgrounds of America (KOA) parks in Michigan is being featured in the 2010 edition of the annual KOA Directory.

More than 1 million copies of the directory are currently being distributed to KOA campgrounds and campers across the U.S. and Canada, according to a news release.

“We decided to do our professional photo shoot at Emmett, Flint and Port Huron because we knew they are beautiful campgrounds, and would truly represent the best of the KOA system,” said Lorne Armer, vice president of marketing for Kampgrounds of America Inc.

The Emmett KOA, owned by Chris and Deborah Pietras,  has photographs displayed on the cover of the directory, as well as several other pages in the 245-page directory. The annual KOA Directory carries complete listings and maps for the more than 475 KOA campgrounds in North America.

The Holly/Flint KOA is owned by Wynn Taylor, and the Port Huron KOA is owned and operated by Shirley and Howard Stein.

The three parks are located north of the metro Detroit area.

The photographs, taken by professional photographer Jeff Dow, will also be used in other materials KOA distributes to its campers.

For more information on Kampgrounds of America, go to www.koa.com. To view other photographs by Jeff Dow, go to www.jeffdow.com.

Aussies Like KOA’s Campground Operating System

Kampgrounds of America’s (KOA) KampSight campground operating system has found a new home – and a new name – on the other side of the world.

BIG4 Holiday Parks of Australia has adopted KOA’s KampSight as its software for centralized online reservations, renaming their version of the industry-leading system BIG4 PAM (Park Accommodation Management), according to a news release.

BIG4 PAM is a simple, all-in-one, web-based system for accommodation management that will not only improve the day-to-day operation of each member park in Australia and increase revenue, but will arm the BIG4 group with valuable consumer insights, improving its ability to market to different customer groups.

Already, five BIG4 parks are using the new system, which enables them to track all room allocation in real time, removing the ongoing task of uploading inventory and ensuring they are not missing out on any potential business. In its first year of operation BIG4’s new website, featuring 24-pages for each of its 180-plus parks, has generated in excess of $6 million in bookings. The increased revenue is now averaging in excess of $1 million per month with between $10 million and $12 million of online revenue forecast for the financial year.

“An upgraded, centralized system will only add to this increased revenue our parks are already enjoying,” says BIG4 Holiday Parks CEO Terry Goodall.

“Our relationship with Kampgrounds of America enables BIG4 to share best practice and adopt systems like this, which is modeled on KOA’s KampSight system. These initiatives all provide a better customer experience and further cement our position as market leader,” he said.

“One of the key advantages with BIG4 PAM is the removal of the need to constantly upload room inventory to the system. Typically, people will book a holiday between 30-40 days out, but potentially up to a year out, so by having a comprehensive offering of room availability our parks can capture that business then and there. We don’t even like to think how much business our parks may have missed out on where inventory wasn’t loaded.”

Goodall said KOA’s proven track record with the KampSight operating system has enabled BIG4 to recommend this system to its parks with uncompromised confidence.

“KOA has been using this online accommodation management system at 100 per cent of its parks for three years now, with the system providing great benefits to its 400-plus parks. While our system has some similar functions, we know from KOA’s experience with their model that there is significant potential to increase revenue and further build our brand with a centralized system,” he says.

KOA Chairman and CEO Jim Rogers said the benefits KOA’s centralized park management system has been providing both for guests and park owners.

“Today’s hospitality guests want recognition, customized services, and technologically advanced conveniences. KOA’s centralized park management system allows us to serve guests with the most advanced high tech/high touch technology in the outdoor hospitality sector,” Rogers said.

“Over the last three years, more than 1 million bookings have been made directly online, with the average booking $120 giving a total revenue value of $120 million. Currently 30% of all bookings taken are made through KOA’s centralized reservation system, and that is growing.

“The guest data has allowed us to launch the first automated loyalty rewards frequent camper program in North America,” Rogers said. “It also serves as the basis for our comprehensive guest feedback research which allows targeting very specific service and marketing opportunities by camper and park. Developed by park owners, the system includes financial, accounting, and reservations systems they needed to optimize the park business.”

BIG4 Holiday Parks plans to have all its parks transitioned onto the BIG4 PAM system within the next three years.

For more information on Kampgrounds of America Inc., visit www.koa.com. For more on BIG4 Holiday Parks, go to www.big4.com.au.

Campers Expect and Find Comfort in Today’s World

Little Bennett Regional Park hopes marshmallows delivered to a fully furnished campsite attracts campers in a world more aware of Facebook than fall foliage.

For an extra $25 per night, the Montgomery County, Md., park will set up a campsite, complete with four-person tent, chairs, lantern and a propane stove, according to WTOP Radio, Washington, D.C.

Virginia and Maryland’s fall foliage hot lines say the trees’ colors are peaking in the states’ western regions and beginning to turn red, orange and yellow in the states’ central and eastern regions.

The sights at the county’s largest park wasn’t the most memorable experience for Rockville’s Merlyn Perez, who took her daughter Lelani to Little Bennett for a two-night taste of sleeping outside.

“They even had an ice cream social for the kids,” she said of the summer trip.

That’s just the beginning of more comfortable camping in today’s world. Coleman produces built-in alarm clocks, speakers for MP3 players and night lights on its air mattresses and Kampgrounds of America Inc. (KOA) operates wireless networks at many campsites. DirecTV offers a portable satellite.

To really create the world in the woods, real beds and fine linens await campers, if you can call them that, at Montana’s The Resort at Paws Up, where butlers prepare guests’ meals. Campers at El Capitan Canyon in California rest on hand-woven willow beds inside canvas tents kept dry and safe thanks to wooden platforms. The KOA site near Santa Cruz, Calif. offers feather beds.

Mike Gast, Kampgrounds of America’s vice president of communications, said, “You have to offer the all-inclusive camping experience,” he said. “Barbecues, ice cream socials. Some of our sites even have climbing walls.”

At Coleman, the concept of comfortable camping guides many products they develop. “It needs to be comfortable. Otherwise, people are going to stay inside and do Facebook,” said Jeff Willard, the company’s senior vice president of global marketing and new product development.

Things must change, environmental educator Cheryl Charles said, if kids and adults are to enjoy the outdoors.

“We’re not against technology,” she said. “But when kids spend so much time hooked to (an) electronic umbilical cord — things have to change.”

She and Richard Louv co-founded the Children & Nature Network in response to “nature deficit disorder.” They want to get adults and kids in the woods more. And they’re willing to find new ways of doing it, even if it goes against the grain of traditional camping and those who practice it.

“I would not be critical of ‘glamping,’” she said of the new term to describe the glamorous aspect of a more high-tech, comfortable camping trip. “There’s not one right way to reconnect with nature. If some people are resistant and need a cot, that’s just fine.”

Dzungh Pham has now experienced both kinds of camping. In August, he, his wife Trinh Le and their 6-year-old son Matthew spent a weekend with friends at Little Bennett.

The roomy neon green tent set up in advance for him and his family sat on a concrete platform near the lantern and waiting propane stove. That doesn’t mean the man who’s been through the “real-campers-rough-it school of camping,” was completely comfortable with such a pleasant experience that required so little of him.

“If my family in Texas could see me now, they’d laugh,” he said.

Redesigned GoCampingAmerica Website Goes Live

The National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds (ARVC) has completed its long-awaited redesign of the Go Camping America website, the searchable database for private campgrounds, RV parks and resorts across the country.

“We have completely overhauled and redesigned GoCampingAmerica.com to make it easier for consumers to find the campgrounds and RV parks that best fit their needs,” Linda Profaizer, ARVC president and CEO, said in a news release.

The redesigned website, which went live on Monday (Oct. 5), can also be used to book reservations online, includes a “Find Rentals” tab with search functions that make it easy to find campgrounds and RV parks with RV rentals on site as well as cabins, park models, yurts and teepees.

An advanced search function allows consumers to find parks that are uniquely suited for tent campers as well as parks that are big-rig friendly, with pull through sites and 50 amp electrical service. You can use the site to find family parks, pet-friendly parks, age restricted parks as well as parks that offer nude recreation.

The advanced search function also enables consumers to search for parks that offer nearly 40 different types of activities and outdoor recreation, from biking and bird watching to hunting and fishing, golfing and kayaking. Links to information about outdoor recreation, festivals and special events in each of the 50 states are also provided on the site along with helpful information for first time campers, such as “What to Pack” lists and recipes. Links to the state affiliates of ARVC are also provided.

Consumers can also use GoCampingAmerica.com to quickly find parks that are affiliated with major campground chains, such as Equity LifeStyle Properties, Kampgrounds of America (KOA) and Leisure Systems Inc., which franchises Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Camp-Resorts as well as parks that offer AAA, AARP, FMCA, Good Sam and other popular discounts.

Profaizer said private park operators should log on to ARVCGateway.com to update their park descriptions and listings of activities and special events so that consumers can easily spot their parks using the website’s enhanced search functions. Park operators should also send photos of their parks and links to their reservation pages to Grant Barnette and gbarnette@arvc.org so that they can be loaded onto the redesigned website.

Retailers Attend to Emerging ‘Glamping’ Trend

The idea of “roughing it” has taken on a new meaning.

The Coleman outdoors company sells air mattresses with built-in alarm clocks and night lights, and tents outfitted with “integrated lighting systems” and auto-roll windows. For those who can’t bear to be unplugged for any length of time, DirecTV has a portable satellite and Kampgrounds of America offers wireless Internet at most of its campsites, according to the Washington Post.

And for a small fee, employees at Montgomery County’s Little Bennett Regional Park in Virginia will set up a fully furnished campsite, complete with tent that sleeps four, chairs, propane stove and lantern. Marshmallows are optional.

With fewer people participating in outdoor activities, retailers and park officials are doing everything they can to coax them into the great outdoors. Hard-core campers may sniff at the level of hand-holding — air mattresses equipped with built-in speakers for MP-3 players — but some environmentalists and outdoors advocates applaud the efforts. That’s because they worry that a population more familiar with Google than the Grand Canyon ultimately could hurt conservation efforts.

“We’re out of balance,” said Cheryl Charles, an environmental educator. “A lot of young parents and teachers didn’t grow up with nature-based experiences. We’re not against technology. But when kids spend so much time hooked to (an) electronic umbilical cord — things have to change.”

In 1988, national parks received 282 million visits. By 2008, the number had dropped to a little less than 275 million, according to statistics from the National Parks Service. Researchers Oliver R.W. Pergams and Patricia A. Zaradic found that the drop in outdoor activity coincides with the rise in time people spend on their computers. In 1987, the average person spent zero hours on the Internet. By 2003, that number had risen to 174 hours.

“We may be seeing evidence of a fundamental shift away from people’s appreciation of nature to ‘videophilia,’ which we here define as ‘the new human tendency to focus on sedentary activities involving electronic media,’ ” said the pair in their 2008 study that examined trends in outdoor recreation.

Richard Louv, author of “Last Child in the Woods,” who with Charles co-founded the Children & Nature Network, which promotes outdoor activity for families, dubbed the phenomenon “nature deficit disorder.”

To compete, retailers and park officials are scrambling to make camping and other outdoor activities easier and more comfortable.

That’s why outdoor outfitter Gander Mountain offers a portable battery-operated mosquito repellant system in forest-friendly camouflage colors. For added privacy, REI, an outdoor-gear store, sells tents that can be divided into multiple rooms. This summer, rangers at Shenandoah National Park offered weekend seminars for camping rookies on how to pitch a tent, build a campfire and plan a proper camp-friendly menu.

Some say such plush amenities go against the true spirit of the outdoors. It’s not camping, some sniff, but “glamping” — as in a camping experience short on hardship but long on glamour.

Retailers say it’s the reality of the market.

Hoosier KOA Succeeds in Evolving Market

Business is pleasure for Thomas Jetzer and his wife, Patricia Schenk, left, avid travelers who bought the South Bend (Ind.) East Kampground of America (KOA) in nearby Granger in 2005. 

The partners, who came from Switzerland in 2001, had been working in the Chicago area. Schenk was general manager at an RV rental company branch and Jetzer was a mechanic at a GM dealership, according to the South Bend Tribune Business Weekly. 

In their spare time, they logged more than 100,000 miles, on coast-to-coast trips and shorter jaunts, in their restored 1973 GMC motorhome. 

“This is how we fell in love with camping,” she says. “We bought our first camper then. That’s how we came to KOA. We always loved to travel. We combine business and pleasure, or at least we try to. 

“The camping business is an interesting business because you have all kinds of little businesses inside the big business.” 

The different responsibilities of campground ownership provide a convenient division of labor. Jetzer is technical director, responsible for repairs and maintenance, among other things, while Schenk looks after accounting, marketing and human resources work. 

“We work together,” she says. “It’s an ideal situation.” 

The Granger campground, built around 1990, was once part of a larger complex that included batting cages and a sports bar. Jetzer and Schenk bought 13 acres that holds 100 campsites, including 20 cabins. 

“We are a midsized campground,” she says. “We can house quite a bit. You’re still able to get personal contact with the campers. It’s not like the big resorts. We know who we house. We can house small to medium groups. Our goal is to offer high-quality camping for a moderate price.” 

The KOA hosts rallies, family reunions and other events, including a vintage trailer rally July 30-Aug. 2. 

The location combines the rustic feel of a wooded hiking trail with the close convenience of grocery, hardware, drugstores and other retail and restaurants in Granger. 

“Once you are here, you feel like you’re somewhere in the boonies,” Schenk says. “You have a little paradise. We try to offer good family quality time. You can spend the weekend all together. There’s a lot to do here, a lot of activities.” 

Campers can play volleyball, basketball or tetherball, visit the petting zoo, rent bicycles or take a hike in the campground. Many also visit such nearby attractions as the RV/MH Hall of Fame, College Football Hall of Fame, Studebaker National Museum, University of Notre Dame, Amish country and Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. 

Campground Sponsors Day Camp 

The setting’s facilities also support a day camp with organized activities for some 40 to 50 youngsters in the summer. 

“Day camp is a second leg of our business,” Schenk says, listing sports, games, arts and crafts, swimming, fashion shows and rainy-day movies among the offerings. 

The campground, open April 1-Nov. 23, attracts a wide variety of short-term and long-term campers. 

“We have all kinds of customers, from the one-time customer passing by on his way somewhere to the locals who come back several times a year,” she says. “Some people from Western states come here and stay the whole summer with us.” 

The economic slowdown has not slowed business, partly because some families are choosing to take their vacations closer to home. 

“We are busy,” Schenk says. “Compared to last year, we are doing about the same. Probably some people had to cut back, but that’s replaced by somebody who’s not staying in an expensive hotel somewhere.” 

Maybe, she says, the first-timers will discover that the convenient and economical trip is at least as fun as the long drive to faraway campgrounds. 

“It’s the same camping experience,” Schenk says. “You have your campfire. You burn your marshmallow.”

Brisk Business Reported at U.S. Campgrounds

At the Battlefield KOA Campground in Gettysburg, Pa., you can catch up on e-mail at your campsite, take in an evening movie on a 9-foot inflatable outdoor screen, lounge by the pool, play a round of mini golf or try your hand at Extreme Hunting, one of the arcade games in the game room. There’s live music on Saturday nights and pancake breakfasts on weekend mornings, and if you don’t feel like cooking, you can have dinner delivered to your RV door, tent flap or what-have-you. 

Heck, you don’t even have to really camp at this wooded 25-acre site, thanks to its growing inventory of air-conditioned cabins, cottages and lodges – essentially, tricked-out trailers done up to look like hand-hewn log dwellings, according to USA Today. 

“So much for getting away from it all,” owner John Bergeron says with a laugh. 

But getting away they are. By many accounts, business is brisk this summer at campgrounds nationwide. The sinking economy may have put the brakes on taking the Grand Tour, but many Americans still want to get away. And with relatively low gas prices, more people are pulling into campgrounds. 

All Metrics Point Up 

Campground reservations through ReserveAmerica.com, which books campsites in most national parks, are up 8% over last year in the first six months of 2009. 

Kampgrounds of America Inc. (KOA), a network of 460 commercial campgrounds, reports a 5% increase in June occupancy. REI, an outdoor-gear chain, says sales of family tents were up 17% in June over last year. The retailer also saw double-digit increases in sales of related products, such as air mattresses and campground stoves. 

A recent survey by the Outdoor Foundation, a non-profit group that promotes outdoor activities, indicates camping’s popularity rose 7.4% in 2008 after a decline the year before. Overnight backpacking grew by 18.5%, the group reports. 

“People are returning to simpler lifestyles – the ‘less is more’ ethic,” says the foundation’s Christine Fanning. “And everyone is searching for vacations that fit with today’s economy.” 

Indeed, ForestCamping.com, a comprehensive guide to U.S. National Forest campgrounds, where campsites go for $10 to $15 a night, has seen a spike in hits. Bookings for reservable Forest Service campsites were up 11% through May. 

“When the economy goes down, camping goes up,” says Suzi Dow, who with her husband, Fred, runs the site. 

David Berg, owner of the Red Apple Campground in Kennebunkport, Maine, echoes the sentiment. “I believe camping is a recession-proof business,” he says. “When people can’t afford $200 or $300 a night for a waterfront cottage, they dust off the pop-up (camper) or get out the tent and spend $50 a night on a campsite and maybe still go out to good restaurants.” 

At Yellowstone National Park, lodging bookings are down this year, but campground stays are up, says Rick Hoeninghausen, marketing director for Xanterra, which runs the park’s concessions. 

“This is an interesting summer because, even in April, reservations were trailing last year. Then it kicked in in May. There’s more last-minute decision-making this year than I can ever remember.” 

As in other segments of the travel industry, campers are staying closer to home, but they’re also staying away longer. At KOA campgrounds, for instance, average stays are 2.5 nights, up from 1.7 nights three years ago. 

RVTravel.com editor Chuck Woodbury has been traveling through Western parks this summer, and says he’s struck by the number of rental RVs on the road. “It’s families, it’s couples, it’s everyone,” he says. “RV’ing has become much more accepted. It’s not just Grandma and Grandpa’s playhouse anymore.” 

Campgrounds Expanding Services 

Nor are today’s campgrounds necessarily like the ones you might remember as a kid. Food delivery, concierge services and skate parks are among innovative additions at some private facilities. In Columbia, Calif., the Marble Quarry RV Park features on-site gold panning. At Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Hill Country in Canyon Lake, Texas, laser tag is all the rage. At Kamp Klamath RV Park and Campground in Klamath, Calif., the alder-smoked salmon served at the park’s restaurant has won prizes in several competitions. 

At Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Camp Resort & Water Playground in Wisconsin Dells, owner Brent Gasser has gradually expanded what began as a campground with basic tent sites to a “camp resort” with a four-level water playground, boat and golf cart rentals, themed weekends (think Christmas in July), and 51 rental units that go from $39 to $299 a night. 

“The traditional camper has been requesting more and more accommodations that they’d find in a hotel,” Gasser says. “And since we’re in an area with many hotels, we have to compete.” 

And at the Red Apple Campground, the annual $25 Maine lobster fest sells out two years in advance. This summer, bookings are up 9%, and the average stay has stretched from 2.5 to 4.5 days. 

“You have to be more creative to get people in your park and get them to come back again,” Berg says. “Today’s customer wants it all. In the majority of campgrounds today, we have Wi-Fi and concierge services. There are (waterfront) campsites in Maine that go for over $100 a night. And they sell first.” 

But the constant buzz of organized activity can be a bit much, even for avid campers such as Brian and Michelle Gillespey of Brownstone, Mich. 

“They’re on the PA making announcements about putt-putt golf and the ice cream social at 3 p.m.,” she says. 

“There are too many activities at some of these places,” he says. “To me, it’s not relaxing.” 

America’s ‘Last Small Town’ 

What many campground denizens say they do like is the camaraderie of the camp. KOA president Jim Rogers calls campgrounds “the last small town in America. They’re a live community, a social beehive. You’re interacting with strangers and allowing your kids to.” 

“A woman stepped onto our site to avoid a passing car last night and ended up staying until midnight,” says Lynn Boozel, a camper at the KOA in Gettysburg. Boozel and his wife, Rhonda, of McVeytown, Pa., are wrapping up their seventh annual week-long visit here. “We came for a weekend and got hooked,” Boozel says. 

The couple, with their two young daughters and a granddaughter, are sleeping in a six-person tent, which puts them in the minority among the Hitchhikers, Wolf Packs and other RV models that occupy most of the sites. 

Across the way, Valerie and Bill Stack of Donora, Pa., have just arrived in their Ford pickup pulling a 12,000 pound, 38-foot trailer. This is one of five trips they’ll make here this summer. 

“Once you’re addicted to this, you can’t stay home,” Bill Stack says. “You come back and say, ‘Boy, did I have a great time,’ and they ask, ‘What did you do?’ and you say, ‘Nothing.’ “ 

The trailer has a gas fireplace, queen-size bed and flat-screen TV, among other amenities. They’ll spend the weekend swimming in the pool and maybe play some putt-putt golf. 

“But we’re here for nature,” Valerie Stack says. “If I lost everything tomorrow, I’d go out and buy a tent.”

Campers Find Hassle in Digital Switch

Ralph Deangelis planned his family’s cross-country RV excursion around taking in great sights at Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Canyon. But Deangelis also likes being able to see practical things like local TV weather reports while they’re on the road. 

So the switch by broadcasters to all-digital signals on June 12 is bringing special headaches for campers like him. Many put off upgrading the TVs in their RVs because it meant tearing up cabinets designed to maximize space, and they’re worried now that without over-the-air signals they’ll have less access to forecasts and storm warnings, according to the Associated Press. 

Deangelis, of Bethlehem, Pa., said this week at the KOA Kampground in Sioux Falls, S.D., that he’ll have to rely on cable-ready campsites this trip, since he hasn’t bought a digital converter box to work with his RV’s older TV set. He figured why bother, as he already had to remove a faulty rooftop antenna. 

Plenty of newer RVs are equipped with satellite dishes, antennae or both – especially the ones people use as summer or full-time homes, with their only TVs. But Mark Thies, service adviser with Spader’s RV Center in Sioux Falls, estimates that 95% of weekend RVers rely on over-the-air signals. He expected a flood of phone calls Monday morning when occasional campers realize they weren’t prepared. 

Lots of people procrastinated because retrofitting RVs with a converter box can be a “total nightmare” that could cost $300 to $400, Thies said. It can involve hours of pulling out cabinetry, rerouting wires and trying to find a spot to mount the box. 

“The problem is when they put the TVs in the RVs, everything is built in a confined area, so we have to modify where those boxes go,” Thies said. “My recommendation is put in a new TV. That’s the easiest, best way for these people.” 

That can bring the same kind of remodeling headaches, said Darrell Brink, a 66-year-old Sioux Falls building contractor who opted for the converter box. 

“The problem with getting a new TV is when you buy the RV, it was built for the TV that came in it,” Brink said. “You just can’t switch the TV out, because they’re built in.” 

A few sites down from Brink’s at Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park, John Luckie of Georgia thinks he has it figured out. 

Having a DirecTV satellite dish means he can watch his favorite national channels – but since that account is based in Georgia, he gets only Atlanta’s local stations as he travels around the country. So if he wants to know if it’s going to rain tomorrow where he’s at, he switches to use the rooftop antenna connected to his high-definition TV. 

“What’s nice here is I can get local news, weather and such by using the antenna,” he said.

KOA Website Joins Top 100 for Travel Visits

Kampgrounds of America’s popular KOA.com website has been ranked in the Top 100 Most Visited Travel Websites by the Hitwise U.S. Travel Report. 

Hitwise is the online industry’s leading independent source of Internet traffic statistics. According to the report, the Top 100 U.S. travel websites claim nearly 70% of overall travel website traffic. The average duration of a visit to one of the top 100 travel websites was more than nine minutes. 

KOA’s website has seen more than 5.4 million visits so far in 2009, and welcomed more than 1.3 million visitors in May alone, according to a KOA news release. 

Other Top 100 Travel websites on the Hitwise list include AOL Travel, Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, United Airlines and JetBlue. 

The KOA.com website now ranks ahead of such websites as Starwood Hotels and Resorts, MGM Mirage, Disney Parks and Hawaiian Airlines, which all saw their websites fall from the Top 100 list in May.

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