Taking the Kids: When you are new to camping
Tent, RV, or camper? Cabin, yurt, treehouse, vintage Airstream, or hammock strung between two trees?
If you’re thinking about taking the kids camping, perhaps for the first time, you’re not alone.
Camping was the one segment of the travel industry that didn’t suffer during the pandemic. In fact, it enjoyed unprecedented growth.
In 2021, according to the KOA North American Camping Report 2022, camping accounted for 40 percent of all leisure trips with more than half of all travelers adding camping to their travels.
Significantly, many were urbanites. More than half of new campers came from non-white groups. Thirty-six percent of campers went on a “glamping,” trip defined as luxury camping with amenities and staff. (In 2020, our experience at Paws Up in Montana, at more than $1,000 a night, included a claw-footed bathtub in our platform tent and a butler to see to all of our needs.)
RVing has never been so popular nor is it the purview of retirees. According to the RV International Association, more than 45 million people plan to RV this summer, many with kids, in a vehicle they own, rent or borrow. RV ownership is up more than 60 percent since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, with strong interest among millennials, the research shows.
The RV association’s 2022 North American Camping Report concludes that millennials, campers with children in the household and higher-income campers will drive growth. The research suggests that there will be 61.3 million camping households in the coming year. The net gain is estimated to be around 5 million more campers. The trend is expected to continue.
Also significant: Many of the new campers have higher incomes than campers in the past with
nearly four in 10 campers reporting an annual income of more than $100,000, according to the 2022 KOA Camping Report. (The profile pre-pandemic was solidly middle class with only two in 10 reporting that income.)
These new campers, like all campers, perceive that getting outdoors is the safest way to vacation during the ongoing pandemic. Staying in an RV or cabin, they cook for themselves and have private bathrooms. And once they have experienced camping—in whatever form – they want to do it again … and again, the research suggests.
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