6 Million New North American Campers Since 2014

Above, a new Winnebago Intent under transport to a dealer at
the Jamestown, New Mexico Flying J. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

When sitting on my outside deck and watching the traffic go by on Interstate 40 through New Mexico, the vehicles I've really noticed (besides semi-trucks) are recreational vehicles of all types. There's many of them passing by.

Additionally, I've noticed a lot of RVs being transported from factories to dealers while at the local Flying J travel center. The Flying J is a popular refueling and rest stop for transporters. The RV business is booming and Business Wire has noted that there is a big growth in camping families going on.

They wrote:

BILLINGS, Mont.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--More than 6 million new North American households have adopted the camping lifestyle since 2014, with the number of campers who camp three times or more each year – the most avid group of campers – having increased by 64 percent. This growth, according to the results of the 2018 North American Camping Report, an annual independent study supported by Kampgrounds of America, Inc. (KOA), is an indicator that camping is fast becoming a lifestyle attribute among U.S. and Canadian households – and there is no indication this trend is slowing down.

In the U.S. there was an increase of 2.6 million new camper households in 2017. Further, representation among all ethnicities is beginning to appear more like the overall population. Building on 2017 report findings, campers at all experience levels and among all ethnicities continue to express the desire to camp more and are equally likely to say they intend to increase their camping trips in 2018: 45 percent of all campers indicated they will increase camping trips in 2018, an increase of 3 percent from last year’s report, while 39 percent of new campers in 2017 will increase camping trips in 2018.

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