Fifty-Two Million Campers Need Somewhere to Park

A family planning a July weekend in 2024 opened a booking app, picked a park, and found nothing. Not that park, not the next one, not the one an hour further down the road. The Dyrt, the camping app, reported that 56.1 percent of campers had difficulty booking a site that year because campgrounds were full — close to the 2022 peak of 58.4 percent. The family was not unlucky. It was the market.

KOA's 2026 Camping & Outdoor Hospitality Report, its twelfth annual survey, puts the scale of that market in plain numbers. More than 52 million North American households camped in 2025, exceeding pre-pandemic participation levels, and they spent about $66 billion in local communities — up more than $5 billion from 2024. The average camper spent over $200 a day per person, excluding accommodations. The survey behind the report covered 4,088 households, conducted by Cairn Consulting Group, and KOA's president and chief executive, Toby O'Rourke, put the point in the release: camping is no longer a niche, but a meaningful pillar of the North American travel economy. The surge of first-time campers who arrived between 2020 and 2022 did not leave. They stayed, and they kept booking.

The vehicle side of the story tells the same tale with a lag. The RV Industry Association reported 342,220 wholesale RV shipments in 2025, up 2.5 percent from 333,733 in 2024 — the second year of growth after the market bottomed at 313,174 shipments in 2023. Towable RVs finished the year at 306,191, up 2.5 percent, and motorhomes at 36,029, up 3.3 percent. RVIA's president and chief executive, Craig Kirby, called the year-end total "in line with the forecasts shared by ITR Economics throughout the year." About 8.1 million American households now own an RV, and the industry's total economic impact reached $159 billion with 643,238 jobs in the 2026 RVs Move America study. The record, for context, was 600,240 shipments in 2021 — a pandemic spike nobody expects to repeat.

The park side is smaller than the vehicle side and steadier than it. IBISWorld puts revenue for campgrounds and RV parks in the United States at $11.2 billion in 2026, up 0.87 percent, across 16,992 businesses, with revenue growing at a 2.9 percent compound annual rate between 2021 and 2026. The industry is fragmented — the 50 largest companies account for about 30 percent of revenue — and it is built on land, which is the part that does not depreciate the way a vehicle does. A park is a piece of real estate with a nightly rate card. The RVs come and go. The pads stay.

That distinction is the one a lender has to hold onto, because the 2026 numbers are softer than the 2025 ones. Wholesale RV shipments through July 2026 were down 13.9 percent year over year, and the RV RoadSigns fall forecast, published October 16, 2026, put full-year 2026 shipments at about 290,000 — down roughly 15 percent. Households that went RV camping slipped to 9.9 million in 2025 from 9.98 million in 2024, against a 2022 peak of 15.2 million. Camping frequency is thinning, too: households camping three or more times a year have declined by ten percentage points since 2019, while households camping once a year have risen 257 percent over the same period. The boom is normalizing. The question is what normal looks like, and the answer so far is a market of about 52 million households — roughly a quarter above the pre-2020 baseline of about 42 million — spending $66 billion a year in the towns around the parks.

The counterargument is that a softening vehicle market eventually reaches the parks, and it will reach some of them. A park whose customers are mostly new-RV buyers feels a shipment downturn first. A park whose sites are booked by seasonal regulars, long-term guests, and glampers feels it last, if at all. The parks that struggled in 2026 are the ones that were built for the 2021 spike — new sites, new debt, new expectations — and the parks that held up are the ones whose occupancy was proven before the spike. That is not a reason to doubt the demand. It is a reason to underwrite the park, not the vehicle. The demand for a site to sleep on is stickier than the demand for a new RV to sleep in, because the site is where the 52 million households actually go, and the RV is only how some of them get there.

For the lender, the implication is direct. The financing name that serves this market does not depend on RV sales growing every year. It depends on 52 million households continuing to camp, on parks staying full enough to service their debt, and on a borrower pool that needs a specialist lender to be found. The shipments will rise and fall. The pads, and the loans behind them, are the durable part.

Sources: KOA, 2026 Camping & Outdoor Hospitality Report — more than 52 million North American households camped in 2025, about $66 billion in local spending (up more than $5 billion from 2024), 4,088 household surveys conducted by Cairn Consulting Group, 12th annual report, released April 14, 2026; Toby O'Rourke, president and CEO, https://www.koapressroom.com/press/2026-camping-hospitality-report/. The Dyrt, 2024 camping report (via Wert-Berater, "Glamping Resort Feasibility Studies") — 56.1% of campers had difficulty booking a site in 2024 because campgrounds were full, near the 2022 peak of 58.4%, https://www.wert-berater.com/blog/national-glamping-resort-feasibility-study.html. RV Industry Association — 342,220 wholesale RV shipments in 2025, up 2.5% from 333,733 in 2024; towables 306,191 (up 2.5%), motorhomes 36,029 (up 3.3%); bottom of 313,174 in 2023; record 600,240 in 2021; Craig Kirby, president and CEO; ITR Economics forecasts, https://www.rvia.org/reports-trends/rv-shipment-reports/2025-12/rv-shipments-end-2025-342220-units-modest-25-growth-over-2024. RV Industry Association, 2026 RVs Move America study — 8.1 million U.S. households own an RV; total economic impact $159 billion, 643,238 jobs. IBISWorld, "Campgrounds & RV Parks in the US" (NAICS 72121) — revenue $11.2 billion in 2026, up 0.87%, 16,992 businesses, revenue CAGR 2.9% between 2021 and 2026, https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/industry/campgrounds-rv-parks/1667/. RVIA monthly shipment reports (via CamperFAQs, August 2026) — wholesale shipments through July 2026 down 13.9% year over year; RV RoadSigns fall forecast, October 16, 2026 — about 290,000 shipments for 2026, down about 15%. KOA 2026 report (via Awayo field report) — households camping three or more times a year down ten percentage points since 2019; households camping once a year up 257% over the same period; pre-2020 baseline about 41.97 million camping households; 9.9 million households went RV camping in 2025 (vs 9.98 million in 2024; peak 15.2 million in 2022).