Overworked though it might be, the parable about six blind men describing an elephant—each varying wildly from his companions, depending on what his hands encountered—couldn’t be more appropriate for the coverage of The Dyrt’s recently released 2024 Camping Report.
Compiled from an annual survey of 7,000 of its members, a representative sample of 1,ooo U.S. residents and of camping property managers across all 50 states, The Dyrt’s report is as comprehensive as any in the industry. For all that, however, published analyses of the report’s findings have been surprisingly superficial and repetitive, hitting the same high notes while missing other potentially significant but less obvious findings, or how they might interact. Yes, the elephant has a snake-like trunk, and yes, its legs are like tree trunks, but. . . .
This year, the most hyped finding was that more people than ever went camping in 2023, at a whopping 84.8 million—but good news! Campgrounds had met the increased demand by adding sites, presenting campers with “more options than ever before.” As a result, “only” 45.5% of campers reported difficulty booking a site because a campground was sold out, or four times more than in 2019—but down from a peak of 58.4% in 2022.
But that’s only part of the story. Because as the report also found, nearly two-thirds of campers said they sought out free camping in 2023, up from just one-third in 2019. Whether it’s boondocking or Walmart parking lots or a friend’s back 40, campers have been looking for and finding—thanks in no small part to The Dyrt’s listings—cheaper or more scenic alternatives to commercial campgrounds, and even to state or federal facilities. All of which explains, for example, why KOA has reported elsewhere that camper nights stagnated or even declined last year, even as revenues rose, thanks to higher rates.
If that’s not a wake-up call for campground owners, here are a couple of other statistics teased out of The Dyrt’s report that should give them pause. Number one, while there were 5.5 million first-time campers in 2023, that’s barely more than half of the pandemic-driven freshman class of 2020. And while that’s still more than double the average annual increase prior to the pandemic, the downward trend is unmistakable and a clear sign that the high-rollin’ years are over. The low-hanging fruit has been picked.
Number two, contrary to all the industry euphoria about how camping is no longer dominated by old people, industry growth is occurring at the two ends of the age spectrum but has dropped in the middle. According to the report, those 65 and older comprised 29.1% of all campers in 2023—the single biggest cohort—increasing their share by 4.9% over the previous year. Yes, grandparents are still spending their kids’ inheritances. From there, meanwhile, it’s all downhill through the generations, with those 55-64 comprising 25.4% of the total camping public in 2023, down 3.1%; those 45-54 comprising 16.9% of the total, down 13.7%; and those 35-44 at 13.9% of the total, down 8%. It’s not until we get to campers who are 25-34 that we see another uptick, by 10.8%, to 10.7% of the total. And while campers 18-24 exploded in numbers, by 65%, that’s only to be expected when you start with a low base, since they still made up only 3.9% of the whole.
What’s it all mean? Just that the working-age population, having tried camping at a time of social distancing and greater acceptance of remote work, is reverting to more established behaviors. Been there, done that—and other responsibilities and opportunities are calling.
At least two other findings in The Dyrt’s report deserve to be highlighted. One provides an illuminating insight into the problem of booking sites: fewer than half of campers (42.7%) used all the camping reservations they made in 2023. Most eventually cancelled the reservations they couldn’t keep, potentially freeing those sites for someone else—but 14.9% couldn’t be bothered to cancel at least once. Moreover, the older the camper the less likely he or she will be a no-show, with millennials and Gen-Zers 52.6% more likely than Gen-Xers and baby boomers to be no-shows.
And oh, yeah: having a lot of money apparently results in cavalier behavior (who knew?), with campers having annual incomes of more than $250,000 twice as likely to be no-shows as those making less than $50,000.
The other curious fact to emerge from the report is that 29.8% of campers in 2023 went camping alone. That’s up from 18.8% in 2021, when social distancing might have been a large part of the reason for going solo, but the report has no explanation for the sharp increase.
Finally, all of the above should be taken with a grain of salt. Comprehensive as The Dyrt’s report may be, it includes some numbers that beggar belief, such as its finding that the average RVer camped 54 nights in 2023. That number makes sense only if a significant number of respondents were full-timers, but The Dyrt makes no effort to parse such distinctions, potentially skewing many results in one unhelpful direction or another. That’s not to say the report is useless, but as with so many data sets generated by vested interests, it’s best approached with a skeptical eye.
Renting Dirt 