The KOA Monthly Research Report – August Edition indicates that 28.5 million households across North America plan to camp over the Labor Day holiday. This represents a 60 percent increase in camping households over Memorial Day weekend and 44 percent more than the Fourth of July. These impressive findings continue to bolster the results of Kampgrounds of America’s (KOA) annual North American Camping Report, released in April 2021, and indicate another exceptionally strong camping year.
About one-fourth of all campers over the Labor Day weekend will camp over the long weekend only; almost 1-in-5 plan to add one or two additional days around the holiday, and 12 percent plan to camp the entire week. For campers who will be camping over the holiday in the next 30 days, 40 percent plan to do so for the long weekend only.
The popularity of the holiday weekend is projected to continue into the fall, as 28 percent of all campers say they plan to take more trips this autumn. While COVID-19 remains a concern, overall cancellations and changes to camping plans will be low – only 1-in-5 note they have made changes to fall camping plans.
“Last year we experienced our best fall on record at KOA,” said Toby O’Rourke, president and CEO of Kampgrounds of America. “As people felt more comfortable traveling and restrictions continued to loosen, we saw people extend their camping into the fall shoulder season. 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.”
Looking at the year as a whole, August finds that 54.5 million households plan to camp in 2021. KOA estimates that 5.3 million new households – a 1 million household increase from the 4.3 million projected in May – will camp in 2021.
“The month-over-month growth that we continue to see in the camping industry is very exciting,” said O’Rourke. “And we’re 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.”