May 18 2009
Camping Makes a Comeback
Up until last summer, we have noticed a marked decline the previous 4 or 5 years in the number of fellow campers when we were visiting our usual tenting locations. Less tenters, less RVers, and just less people visiting at all. But, it looks as if that may be changing starting last summer when we noticed more people for the first time in a while. And now that the full blown economic slowdown has kicked in we see:
Combine a global economic recession with fears of pandemic disease, and it looks to be another dismal summer season for the travel industry. But for one sliver of the accommodations industry—the small business-dominated private-campground business—things are looking up.
Recession-Proof: Private Campgrounds - BusinessWeek.
I think this is a great piece of news in the heaps of recession headlines. Camping is one the great American traditions and one of the best ways to get away from home on the cheap and also experience amazing places. It is also a great way to travel with kids since most kids think its fun (I did). And it teaches an excellent economic lesson that goes hand in hand with exploring your own country and gaining an appreciation for the richness of America’s wild places.
Understanding America’s natural places is the best way to ensure that the next generation takes care of them and protects them.
Another great point about camping is it really gets you unplugged from our progressively more plugged-in world. If you camp the way we do, you don’t take the video games and other electronics and the cell phone is for emergencies only. We focus on where we are and fully get into the place. This is the way we travel and camp and it works best for us.
Others may like the creature comforts of their 37 foot RV with satellite hookup. That’s not for us, but it’s still camping and it still gets you to the wild places. And that is the point.
The economy will pick up at some point. When that happens I just hope that the trend in camping does not drop off. I hope the folks that are traveling to campsites this year, either for the first time or returning after years of not camping, will realize that it is something they enjoy and want to do more of. I hope the kids that enjoy camping will grow up to take their own kids to camp.
