KOA released their 2021 camping report

Wayne

Wayne

Administrator
Staff member
A few things that caught my eye:

  • households that identify as RVers increased by 1.7 MILLION from 2019 to 2020
  • There are now approximately 13 million RVing households in the US
  • It is estimated that 48 million households went camping in 2020 – up over 6 million since 2019
  • 21% of people camping in 2020 were first time campers, while in 2019 only 4% of people were first timers.
  • The number of households the own an RV increased by 2.6 million in 2020!

The report can be downloaded here: http://koa.uberflip.com/i/1362448-2021-north-american-camping-report

We usually book campgrounds at least weeks and in some cases months in advance. Booking way ahead means we never have a situation where we can't find a campground at the destination. However, there have been several times en route that we called several campgrounds before we found a place to stay for the night.

We did see many more RVs on the road during 2020 than 2019 and more RVs that were involved in accidents. Everyone has to learn and we can assure you there we many people on the road getting their first experience towing an RV. We got pretty good at spotting RVs that we wanted to steer clear of because they were going too fast and many without proper weight distribution and/or sway control. There was one in particular I remember in Montana that we followed for about 20 miles and wouldn't pass because it was swaying so badly.

What did you see or notice in 2020?

Did you have a hard time finding a place to camp on short notice?
 
I wonder when the bubble will burst? The mass RV market growth in the last 12 months is generally CVD19 driven. Whereas people couldn't get on planes or do cruises or even eat out at restaurants, they could still buy a truck/RV and "get out of the house". Give it a few years and the market will be flooded with used RVs.

Another industry that saw massive growth (and it continues to this moment) is the house-boating rental industry. Their prices for rentals SKYROCKETED last season and show no signs of letting up this season. But it, too, shall pass someday and they'll be offering massive incentives to fill the boats they've got.
 
dnewton3 said:
I wonder when the bubble will burst?
Click to expand...
I wonder the same.

I've read that the RV industry is predicting they will sell more RVs in 2021 than they did in 2020! The delivered RVs in 2020 was about 430,000 units and for 2021 the number is > 500,000 units. February 2021 alone saw almost 49,000 units shipped. Making that many units/yr isn't sustainable, in my opinion. Give it a < 5 years and there will be doom and gloom in the RV industry with orders way down and the northern Indiana economy suffering.
 
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