Kampgrounds of America’s (KOA) latest report projects households camping over Labor Day/Labour Day weekend to far outpace summer holiday participation.
The KOA Monthly Research Report’s August edition projects 28.5 million households in North America will camp over Labor Day weekend. The total would be a 60% increase from Memorial Day weekend and 44% more than Independence Day weekend.
“Last year we experienced our best fall on record at KOA,” KOA President and CEO Toby O’Rourke said. “Fall is such a wonderful time of year to camp and 2020 let a lot of guests experience that again or for the first time. The results of this month’s research, as well as our advanced reservations, make it clear that fall camping is only becoming more popular.”
KOA found about a quarter of campers over the Labor Day/Labour Day weekend will camp over the long weekend only. Nearly 20% said they plan to add 1-2 additional days around the holiday, with 12% planning to camp the entire week.
The popularity of the holiday weekend is projected to continue into the fall, KOA stated, as 28% of campers said they planned to take more trips this autumn. Only 20% said they canceled or changed fall camping plans, in light of pandemic concerns.
August’s report found 54.5 million households planned to camp in 2021. KOA estimates 5.3 million new households – a 1 million increase from May’s projections – will camp in 2021.
“The month-over-month growth that we continue to see in the camping industry is very exciting,” O’Rourke said. “And we are not just seeing more campers, but growth in site development, infrastructure and even a dramatic increase in new-builds that will support the growing interest in camping among all types of campers and generations for years to come.”
