Record Rv Sales again ... are the # of campsites expanding?

my limited view.

Ohio... many farms have added 10 to 20 sites each... for New oil field workers (Fracking)

South Texas.. are converting Trailer sites to Park Model sites....
including removing concrete pads... 7 were converted this past week.
total of 20 for 2017.

Here in Michigan there have been many new private RV CG's built over the last few years and many others have added on too. Right here locally, the beautiful East Pointe RV Resort was built with 130 RV very fine spaces and opened just 1-1/2 years ago, Grand Haven Resort had been opened 7 miles south of town, Conestoga CG and Resort right on the north side of the Grand River added more RV spaces also, plus The Christian Conference Grounds 2-1/2 miles south of town added another 33 RV sites just to name a few now added just in our local area. None have closed either.

More land had been acquired by the DNR for additional State Parks to add to the over 100 state Parks there already is with CG's that will soon also have CG's built on them too. Bass River State Recreation Area (1665 acres) is one of them and is only ~9 miles east of our home. Has a 300 acre lake on it with boating access right to the 3 miles of Grand River frontage for more boating, watersports, and good fishing too. To the west it borders on another very large county park that is well developed and has a very nice multi-launch boat ramps. Already allows tent camping in the new state park and plans have been approved for a new 280 space RV CG also to be built.

Of course, our area is very popular for RV'ers and recreation and has so many visitors and is only roughly 125 miles from where most of the RV's are made in the USA in Northern Indiana and their headquarters. Thor, huge Jayco, and gobs of other in the group, Forest River and their group, Keystone and their group, and so many others and all are very very busy.

RVing and camping is alive and well and very loved in our state but not insanely road blocked regulated so its nearly impossible to build a new CG like in so many other states and just continues to grow and so does the number of CG spaces too. Some states cut off their noses to spite their faces and it's catching up with them now!

SDcampowneroperator wrote:
At the Nat. Assoc. of RV Parks & Campgrounds ( ARVC) convention in Raliegh, NC Nov 5-9 2017 this was a hot topic. Every other park operator we spoke to reported increased occupancy with many days even months of 100% by reservation ( ours is one). These camps are primarily those near destinations or with themes, events and activities near a large city.
Several educational seminars were offered and well attended for new owners, expansion planners, rehab hopefuls.
the standout I attended was presented by past pres. of ARVC David Gorin of Gorin & Cohen & associates concerning this very topic Mr. Gorin spoke at length about not only the # s of RVs being built but also of their use. While 9 mil. units is a bench figure, it only addresses DOT registered units, so those many other units are still out there being used in a stationary way. They still occupy a campsite.
His research indicates average useage of registered RV s of about 50 days/ yr, up from the low 40s 10yrs ago. The largest demographic of those utilizing their unit longer were the retiring or near so Baby Boomers, followed by Millenials gen Xers &Yers.
Sales of new units to age groups by percentage is growing toward starter units ( towables) which leans the model to believe the younger gens. are more willing and prepared to plan, reseve well ahead for their time. They also seek out camps with higher amenity to entertain children and maintain connectivity. Work away from home is the growth factor fueling many of younger than retirees travel plans. The old Baby Boomers and their parents tactic of winging it are nearly gone. So is cheap.
Campsite # s are paleing in comparison to usage. New campsite construction as reported by state DOH licensing to the fed. DOC. are not keeping 1/2 the pace of useage. Simply put Public parks are restricted by funding and available land, Private camps by cost of land and regulation. In my state, in a destination area we have seen 3 parks close in recent years , to become a business park, an outlet mall, and headquarters for the power company. The land was worth more than as a camp.
As a camp owner, this is a golden time. To build new now at the peak of the market would be a fools errand

Why do you think this is the peak? Peak Boomer retirement hasn't happened yet and then you've got at least 10 years after that of relatively high activity years. If the researchers are right and millenials are entering at a higher rate and gen Xers are going to be moving up into more lucrative senior positions it seems likely that the peak will probably be 2030-2040 or so.

Along I-5 in the northern part of California, there have been a couple of new RV parks open up, but the problem is they're not ear anything you want to do. The other is issue is we see a lot of parks putting in these little wooden cabins where sites used to be. Now you're contending with a non RVing crowd for spots in a campground.

A good percentage of those new RVs being sold aren't in campgrounds, or even on the road...they're back at the dealer waiting on warranty work!!!!!!:B

At the Nat. Assoc. of RV Parks & Campgrounds ( ARVC) convention in Raliegh, NC Nov 5-9 2017 this was a hot topic. Every other park operator we spoke to reported increased occupancy with many days even months of 100% by reservation ( ours is one). These camps are primarily those near destinations or with themes, events and activities near a large city.
Several educational seminars were offered and well attended for new owners, expansion planners, rehab hopefuls.
the standout I attended was presented by past pres. of ARVC David Gorin of Gorin & Cohen & associates concerning this very topic Mr. Gorin spoke at length about not only the # s of RVs being built but also of their use. While 9 mil. units is a bench figure, it only addresses DOT registered units, so those many other units are still out there being used in a stationary way. They still occupy a campsite.
His research indicates average useage of registered RV s of about 50 days/ yr, up from the low 40s 10yrs ago. The largest demographic of those utilizing their unit longer were the retiring or near so Baby Boomers, followed by Millenials gen Xers &Yers.
Sales of new units to age groups by percentage is growing toward starter units ( towables) which leans the model to believe the younger gens. are more willing and prepared to plan, reseve well ahead for their time. They also seek out camps with higher amenity to entertain children and maintain connectivity. Work away from home is the growth factor fueling many of younger than retirees travel plans. The old Baby Boomers and their parents tactic of winging it are nearly gone. So is cheap.
Campsite # s are paleing in comparison to usage. New campsite construction as reported by state DOH licensing to the fed. DOC. are not keeping 1/2 the pace of useage. Simply put Public parks are restricted by funding and available land, Private camps by cost of land and regulation. In my state, in a destination area we have seen 3 parks close in recent years , to become a business park, an outlet mall, and headquarters for the power company. The land was worth more than as a camp.
As a camp owner, this is a golden time. To build new now at the peak of the market would be a fools errand

There is very little new construction, or even expansion, of private RV Parks. The economic and political hurdles make it unfeasible.
Say I wanted to add 5 or 10 sites and I had the ground available to accommodate them. You would think it would be a simple matter of doing the construction. But NO!
Every entity gets their paws into the mix. The county requires a subdivision application. This requires environmental impact studies, showing the impact to Schools, Wildlife, Agriculture, community services etc. A public hearing must be held. State issued construction permits will require engineering reports on waste disposal and groundwater runoff. If the park is on it's own well, all the requirements to meeting a Public Water Supply must be documented. The fact the current system is approved and I intend to only Tee into that line doesn't mitigate the paperwork required.
When you sit down a figure out how much it is going to cost, how long it is going to take and how much frustration it will cause (think spending 12 months at the Department of Motor Vehicles frustrating) it becomes obvious that the best way to deal with a supply shortage of RV sites is to manage it from the cost side i.e raise rates.
BTW, those local, state and federally built campgrounds add to the shortage of RV Parks and sites. There is no way any private park can compete with a government park if the government decided to actually build and retrofit existing parks with competing amenities. That is always in the back of the minds of any park owner near any state, local or national park. Because of that omnipresent threat, it is prudent to never, ever, go all in on an expansion program.

Here in central Texas, I've seen a few new RV parks pop up, mainly because the existing ones tend to be jam-packed at all times of the year. Usually the parks are on back roads, but not too far from a main highway.

If I had eight digits to spend, I'd probably buy 40-100 acres, create a few driveway loops (one loop for families, another for partiers, another loop for people who want to be well away from the first two, and another for long term residents that has multiple entrances out and in.) I would also spend money for a good Internet uplink, so I can provide Ethernet connections and even some local cloud services for permanent residents. From there, perhaps have a shuttle to and from events (SXSW, renaissance faires), so people don't have to worry about having to find parking at the event.

Three of my neighbors have come up with a...LEQ.....class A mh.....class C mh.

The LEQ doesn't camp in campgrounds but makes rodeo events where the event site has spots and hook ups.

The call A does the horse show events all over the west.....stays at the event sites.

The cass C does the blue grass thing and stays at events sites.

Not all RV's are just for camping adventures

For the first time in many, many years of camping, Genie and I were pushed to find a campsite several times during our last trip from end of August into October. We were never without, but we understand the method and have always made no camping reservations - it's really getting harder in the destination parks, both state and national. But we often explore out of the "public eye" areas too, so that helps.

We actually arrived at N Rim and could not get a site, but did get one of the last two in that NF campground right outside the entrance for two days, could have had more, but we had to wiggle. We did get a few days at So Rim entrance CG with no problem, but it filled by very afternoon. That's the first time in years we've seen so many open AM but filled by PM ...

I suspect some of it is sale of RV's as the RV industry matured over the years. But also believe more families stay in USA and Canada - camping - rather than travel abroad for vacations due to the unrest in many areas.

We also spoke to numerous foreign travelers that chose USA rather than other countries for the same reason - unrest.