The Dyrt found that 45.5% of campers reported difficulty booking a site because a campground was sold out in 2023. This number is four times higher than it was in 2019, but it marks a decrease from the 2022 peak of 58.4%.
These statistics are from the newly released 2024 Camping Report presented by the All-New Toyota Tacoma, the most in-depth and comprehensive look at the camping industry to date. The latest version of The Dyrt’s annual report is compiled from the results of surveys conducted with three groups – 7,000 members of The Dyrt camper community, a representative sample of 1,000 U.S. residents, and camping property managers across all 50 states.
“One of the major takeaways from this year’s report is that demand continues to increase but supply is starting to catch up,” says Kevin Long, CEO of The Dyrt. “There was such a boom in camping in 2020, but I’m not sure campground owners and property managers were convinced it was going to continue. Once they realized that more and more people were continuing to go camping, they sprung into action and started adding new sites and new types of camping.”
In fact, half of camping properties surveyed reported adding sites last year. The Dyrt estimates there were over 5 million first-time campers last year with a total of 84.5 million Americans who camped in 2023.
In addition to private campground expansion, The Dyrt has rolled out a number of features to help campers book sites such as The Dyrt Alerts, where users receive a text message when a sold-out campground gets a cancellation, and a spot opens up. The Dyrt also published a reservation opening-dates guide to national and state parks and The Dyrt PRO members can access a curated collection of 5,000 car-accessible free camping locations.
“It was a bit concerning when we found out from last year’s Camping Report that almost 60% of campers reported difficulty booking a site,” says Sarah Smith, founder of The Dyrt. “We would never want to see someone give up on camping because they were frustrated or discouraged about being able to find a place to stay. It’s so great to see now that camping is still continuing to grow while some of the pain points are being mitigated.”