Glamping Industry News & Products

Indiana Experiences Largest Booking Surge in the U.S

Traditional and luxury camping has been taking off during the pandemic, with more than 10 million households in the US going camping for the first time last year, according to Kampgrounds of America (koa.com).

Online camping reservations on public lands totalled $3.3 million in 2020, which is a 33% increase when compared to the previous year – a nearly 67% increase compared to five years earlier.

California was the top state nationally in terms of online bookings, with people flocking to Yosemite National Park, Joshua Tree National Park and forests in the Sierras.

Colorado, Oregon, Utah and Texas rounded out the top five states for reservations on public lands.

The state of Indiana has seen a 481.3% surge in online camping reservations over the past 5 years – the largest jump in the US – after a transition from first-come, first-served campsites to online booking when the Indiana Dunes became a national park. 9,138 camping spots were reserved via recreation.gov, up 7,566 reservations in 2015.

The Indiana Dunes National Park was the most popular camping destination in the state, by the metric of online bookings, according to a new report by outdoorsy.com, an RV rental marketplace.

“The increased popularity of camping has been fueled by a combination of long-term trends and more immediate factors related to the pandemic,” Outdoorsy said in its study. “Over the past several years, camping trends such as ‘vanlife’ and ‘glamping,’ as well as the increased availability of wifi and better cell phone service at campgrounds, have helped attract new campers and offered seasoned campers new ways to enjoy the outdoors without completely foregoing modern-day comforts.” “In particular, Gen-Zers and Millennials are camping in greater numbers and account for an increasing share of all campers. In 2015, members of these generations accounted for 34% of all campers according to KOA. By 2020, this number climbed to 48%.”

Indiana Dunes

Nationally, online camping bookings soared 68.1% over the last five years to 3.26 million in 2020. Yosemite National Park was the most popular destination nationwide.

Outdoorsy said in its study, ”In addition to these longer-term factors, changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic — such as safety concerns, travel restrictions, and business closures — encouraged a flood of first-time campers. According to KOA, the majority of first-time campers in 2020 decided to do so for reasons directly tied to the pandemic.”

Outdoorsy continued, ”Campers that year ventured further from home than in past years, suggesting that Americans increasingly chose to travel by car and camp than travel by airplane and stay in a hotel. Compared to 2015, the percentage of campers who traveled more than 200 miles to camp increased from 17% to nearly 30%.”

SG Blocks Announces Exclusive Expansion into RV and Glamping Industry

SG Blocks (sgblocks.com) are manufacturers of modular structures and have been selected by HTR Investors (htrinvestors.com) for full-suite engineering and architectural consulting services to create RV and glamping structures.

According to a recent press release, these units will be constructed to then be delivered to various campgrounds throughout the U.S, with a contract for approximately 150 units. HTR Investors is a real estate investment company, founded with the goal to expand within the RV and camping industries. “We’re pleased to be working with HTR Investors on its exciting endeavours into the creative RV, camping and glamping space,” says SG Blocks Chairman and CEO Paul Galvin. “This collaboration is a fantastic use of our technology and we anticipate an innovative and fruitful working relationship.” HTR Managing Partner, Minh Tran, says, “SG Blocks has developed a unique and scalable product that we feel fits well with our internal goals towards sustainability and low impact development, and that supports and embraces the communities we engage.”

The initial campground locations will be focused in such places as Moab (Utah), Estes Park (Colorado), the Berkshires (Massachusetts), the NY Adirondacks, Egg Harbour (Wisconsin) and Kerrville (Texas). The units will be constructed at SG ECHO’s plant in Durant. “We knew from our initial consultation with HTR Investors that their vision of interactive, unique, experiential properties that are sustainable and nomadic in nature aligned with ours.” explains Perry Ludy, sales and business development consultant for SG Blocks. She continues, “With this, these initial selected locations are only growing in popularity, and we’re pleased to be a part of that.”

The Adirondack Mountains, an SG Blocks campground location

Camping and Glamping Everywhere, But Not a Site to Book

With national park campsites becoming increasingly difficult to book, more and more people are looking for alternative ways to enjoy the great outdoors, turning to private landowners.

The popularity of outdoor holidays has exploded over the last couple of years as people during the pandemic looked for ways to get away and spend a weekend enjoying nature amidst social distancing and travel restrictions. This is great news for glamping site owners as it means that more people than ever are looking for a glamping holiday, but it also presents a problem for those looking to go glamping as many sites are now being booked up months in advance.

According to a 2018 study (NatureBased Recreation: Understanding Campsite Reservations in National Parks) published by Resources for the Future (RFF) who are an independent, non-profit research institution, many national park campsites are booked as much as six months in advance. Looking at the booking data from the Recreation.gov reservation system, there is a clear spike in bookings that comes 120 to 150 days in advance for Yosemite (due to the fact that campsites there go “on sale” in batches four to five months in advance) and 180 days in advance for most other parks.

The most popular national parks, such as Zion in Utah and Yosemite in California, are often fully booked. Canada is experiencing the same problem, speaking to Global News, Michael Roycroft, regional director for Kananaskis Country with Alberta Environment and Parks said, “We’ve experienced such an increase — 167 per cent — over the last two years. That equates to about 800,000 reservable camper nights. That volume has put a strain on our reservation systems, and we’ve heard from Albertans that they want to have easier and fair opportunities to campsites.”

There are a number of companies who have identified this problem, seeing that people are looking for a greater variety of options when it comes to booking camping and glamping holidays, and have started operating to facilitate this endeavour. Hipcamp are a well-known private land camping booking site and has seen the number of people using its services grew fivefold from 2019 to 2021. Speaking to San Antonio Express-News, CEO and founder of Hipcamp, Alyssa Ravasio said, “More people are realizing that getting outside is the antidote to the pressures and problems of modern life.” The majority of hosts who use Hipcamp operate only one property. “It’s a chance to have these unique places all to yourself,” Ravasio said.

Tentrr take a different approach, looking to capitalize on the ever-growing popularity of glamping. Providing almost everything needed for a more comfortable night under the stars, Tentrr supply landowners with everything they need to offer a glamping getaway, including a 10-by-12-foot canvas tent on an elevated wood platform, complete with a bed with a memory foam mattress, a picnic table and a pair of Adirondack chairs.

“We want to make it easy and accessible for anyone to get out into the great outdoors,” said Todd King, vice president of marketing at Tentrr to San Antonio Express-News.

To become a host with Tentrr there is a fee of $6,500, which covers all the equipment, and the campsite preparation and construction. According to King, sites can accommodate four to six people and can look to charge $99 to $199 per night.

Eco Resort Network Back on for June 2022

The International Glamping Business teamhas confirmed new dates for the in-personnetworking event Eco Resort Network, whichwill now take place on June 1st and 2nd inBled, Slovenia.

This small event will allow those who workin glamping and eco resorts to discuss theirprojects and meet experts who may be able tohelp and advise. Topics that will be covered willinclude securing investment, design and buildand marketing. There will be an opportunityto visit local world-class glamping, as well as achance to appreciate the outstanding beauty ofSlovenia, its wonderful cuisine and wines andlearn something of its rich history.

If you would like to apply to be part of theEco Resort Network event, please contactSteph Curtis-Raleigh at steph@ecoresort.network for more details.

www.ecoresort.network

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