Inside Outdoor Spring 2016

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Editor’s Le tte r
Martin Vilaboy
Editor-in-Chief
Percy Zamora
Art Director
Ernest Shiwanov
Editor at Large
Berge Kaprelian
Group Publisher
Rene Galan
Account Executive
Miki Takeuchi
Digital Media
Jennifer Vilaboy
Production Director
Beka Publishing
Berge Kaprelian
President and CEO
Neil Ende
General Counsel
Jim Bankes
Business Accounting
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Camping’s Wide Appeal
It’s hard to not get excited about the camping business heading into its
peak selling season. As presented in our annual spring analysis of the camp-
ing market, the past few years have seen some encouraging numbers as far as
camping-oriented product sales and participation. There are also some long-
term trends that suggest increases may not be just cyclical blips in the market.
As if that’s not enough, right after our annual camping feature was filed,
a survey from KOA hit the wires showing how camping also is doing well for
outdoor industry efforts to increase diversity among participants. According
to the survey executed by Cairn Consulting Group for KOA, “not only is there
an increase in African-American, Hispanic and Asian-American representation
overall, but among new campers for 2015, representation closely matches
overall population (i.e., census) figures, indicating that this new generation of
campers is truly multicultural.”
That certainly has not always been the case. During the last two years, non-
whites have accounted for less than a quarter of overall campers, show KOA
figures. OIA’s last count in 2013 had that number at less than 20 percent.
Among new campers in 2015, however, 40 percent were listed as non-white,
Cairn researchers found. Nearly one in five new campers were listed as African
American/Black. More than 10 percent identified as Hispanic, and one in 10
were of Asian descent.
A big push behind this bump in diversity has to do with camping’s success
in attracting Millennial-aged consumers back to the activity. Millennials made
up 44 percent of new campers, Cairn researchers found (which is good news in
itself), and the high number of Millennials caused a “flattening effect” on partici-
pation numbers, says the study, “as many of the differences observed between
ethnic groups are much less pronounced among these younger campers.”
We also can’t discount the efforts by the National Parks Service to promote
our lands in celebration of their upcoming 100th birthday. Indeed, park visita-
tions exploded in 2015, and with it the proportion of camper nights spent at
park campgrounds in 2015 increased 7 percentage points among African-Americans
(from 26 percent in 2014 to 33 percent in 2015), 5 percentage points among
Hispanics (40 percent to 45 percent), and 10 percentage points among Asian-
American campers (from 47 percent to 57 percent).
Arguably the biggest promoter of diversity in the activity, however, is camping
itself. Respondents to the KOA survey also showed that regardless of the box
checked on a form, we all camp for the same reasons. It turns out the desires
to connect with family and nature, to feel healthier and to escape everyday
stress by poking a stick at an open fire are shared equally among all.
If only these benefits could sell themselves.
–MV
Inside Outdoor | Spring 2016 6