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Sure, it would be foolish to disregard
the importance of traditional camping
cohorts. Our nation’s campgrounds,
after all, are still filled with plenty of
old-school car campers, Scout troops,
buddies out hunting and four-wheeling,
backpackers, climbers and other vari-
ous core outdoor enthusiasts bedding
down conveniently close to the location
of their chosen activities.
At the same time, however, campers
in the U.S. and Canada are becoming
more diverse, suggests a new survey, in
terms of who they are, how they camp
and why. In turn, contestants in the
space can’t ignore the direction in which
camping aisle customers are evolving.
Whichever way one analyzes the
trends, the camping market currently is
enjoying something of a growth phase.
Similar to 2015, there was a 5 percent
net increase in new campers in 2016,
shows a new survey by Kampgrounds
of America, and since 2014, more than
one million households have started
camping each year. It’s estimated that
3.4 million households became new
campers during the last three years,
and KOA estimates that 61 percent of
U.S. households now can be counted
as camper households, up from 58
percent of households in 2014.
These numbers corroborate with
figures from the National Park Service,
By
Martin
Vilaboy
I
t’s not exactly what anyone would call a seismic
shift – more a morph than an about-face – but
make no mistake, the profile of the North
American camping customer is undergoing
a youth movement of sorts.
The changing
composition of
North American
campers
Camping’sXYZ
Inside
Outdoor
|
Spring
2017
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