Streamlined reservations and maintenance should top to-do lists as visitor numbers skyrocket
As with other outdoor activities, camping’s peak months tend to fall when the weather is warm, school is out, and free time is plentiful. However, recent years have given rise to a new pattern–full capacity year-round.
“Camping season is far less defined now, compared to 15 to 20 years ago,” says Nancy S. Heltman, Visitor Services Director for Virginia State Parks. In those times, a normal season lasted from mid-April to September, with the biggest crowds amassing in the summer months.
Now, Heltman says, even a March weekend with nice weather can attract campers, and reservations continue through early December. In March 2021, Virginia State Parks saw nearly 60,000 campers, and numbers stayed north of 100,000 from April to October. Demand has been so high that camping—one of the system’s “big three” revenue generators—has surpassed cabin rentals as the top draw, bringing in more than $8.3 million last year.
And it’s not just Virginia State Parks experiencing the uptick.
At half of New Hampshire State Parks’ campsites, occupancy between Memorial Day and Fourth of July was already at 100 percent by early March, and most of its other campsites had occupancy rates above 80 percent. Public Information and Marketing Officer Brent Wucher says the fervid public interest was somewhat normal. What struck him as unusual were the requests coming from nearby businesses.
“You talk to anybody in the RV industry, campground associations, everybody, it’s just been a dramatic uptick,” Wucher says. He noticed more frequent calls from nearby RV sales centers, where owners were desperate to share campsite information with an influx of new RV owners.
