Thousands of travelers are turning to RVs and campers as the tourism industry tentatively steps into a new way to holiday. RV makers, suppliers and campground hosts are reporting a wave of first-timers who changed gears because they’re reluctant to get on planes or visit resorts and hotels.
A survey of 4,000 U.S. and Canadian residents released last week by the world’s largest network of private campgrounds, Kampgrounds of America, Inc., showed the pandemic sparking interest in camping, especially among first-timers and younger generations.
“Once it is safe to travel, it’s likely the camping market will get a greater share of leisure travelers’ trips in 2020,” reads the May 11 report measuring the effects of COVID-19 on the campground industry. (The study showed camping drawing 16% of leisure travelers for the rest of 2020, up from 11% before the pandemic.)
In March, as RV buyers evaporated and manufacturing plants — mostly in Indiana — closed, the RV industry pivoted toward crisis management. Dealers and manufacturers sent vehicles across the country for use as isolation units, housing for critical health care workers, command centers and mobile testing units.
California ordered 1,309 to house the sick should hospitals be overwhelmed. Louisiana state police ordered nearly 100 for command posts. A dealer in Texas sent RVs across the state to municipalities. Florida health officials retrofitted RVs as rolling testing labs.
The 418 businesses that make up the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association pushed federal and state lawmakers to keep RV manufacturers and dealers open as essential businesses to meet this new demand. That ask was easier than persuading lawmakers to keep RV campgrounds open for housing the ill and traveling health care workers.
“That campground one has been a harder issue and there’s definitely a patchwork of rules across the country, where in some places they are allowed to remain open and other places they are not,” said Monika Geraci with the industry association.
Now the industry is turning back to consumers and lobbying rulemakers to open campgrounds to social-distancing vacationers. As states craft plans for phased openings, the RV industry is pushing for campgrounds to open in the first or second phases, not later.
The generally accepted plan for reviving the country’s tourism industry starts with people traveling closer to home. It’s not likely vacationers will be jumping in planes anytime soon, so the RV industry is hoping more people start looking at self-contained campers as a way to vacation while distancing and controlling their own environments.
Private campground owners are preparing for wary visitors by scripting specific plans for cleaning, disinfecting and maintaining distancing. Communal facilities — like pools, gyms and game rooms — are largely closed.
“In states that are opening, we are hearing from our members on a daily basis that they went from no reservations to booked solid in no time,” Basler said. “As restrictions start to loosen, we are not going to see people cruising cross-country or flying but they are looking at how they can get outside, closer to home and be as safe as possible. The RV is a self-contained way for them to do that.”
Read more about how people in the US are turning to the RV life.
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