Private park occupancies across the U.S. have largely been flat this year and with notably smaller booking windows than last year, according to some of the largest trackers of campground bookings.
But even though many parks experienced softening demand, some campground networks, such as Spacious Skies Campgrounds and Advanced Outdoor Management, reported overall increases in bookings.
“Year to date, we have seen a fairly flat occupancy rate across private campgrounds in the U.S.,” stated Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Campspot, whose management and reservation software is used by more than 3,000 private and public parks across the U.S. and Canada.
Campspot provided Woodall’s Campground Magazine (WCM) with comparative statistics for both private and public parks compiled through Aug. 27, including details regarding summer bookings, average daily rates (ADR) and regional variations in statistics.
Campspot’s statistics cover all campsite types, including RV sites, tent sites and lodging.
“Overall,” Campspot noted, “the U.S. has seen a fairly flat occupancy level in the first months of the year with a larger decline in the summer months. ADR grew steadily most months except in July, where we saw a small decline that is being erased by August’s ADR.”
Regionally, Campspot continued, “most regions have seen a decline in occupancy (year-over-year) for the summer months,” with states in the Rocky Mountain and High Plains — states Campspot calls its “Frontier” region — being hit the hardest with an 8% decline in bookings.
Summer bookings varied by region
“(The) Pacific Northwest was the only region with growth, with 1-2% depending on the month,”Campspot said, adding that the Northeast had the highest overall occupancy this summer.
Summer park occupancies in Canada declined slightly in June, but were mostly flat in July and August, although Canadian parks have seen a steady increase in ADR all summer, Campspot said.
“The average length of stay hasn’t changed much (year-over-year). The booking window, however, has shifted more towards 60 days or less compared to last year,” Campspot said, adding, “We are seeing fewer reservations being booked further in advance.”
Billings, Mont.-based Kampgrounds of America, Inc. (KOA), with over 500 campground locations, also experienced flat occupancies this year compared to last year, according to KOA officials.
“Along with the broader travel industry, the first half of the year was softer (than 2024). We felt the impact of external economic factors and political uncertainty,” said Kim Wootteon, KOA’s vice president of commercial strategy.
Summer has been a bit stronger, however.
“We’re encouraged by how KOA’s summer occupancy is performing in comparison to 2024,” Wootteon continued, adding, “September is slightly down, but October is trending up compared to 2024 — aligning with our research showing that nearly 40% of campers plan to book trips to enjoy fall foliage. We’re also seeing a continued trend of last-minute reservations, which could help close the gap as the season progresses.”
Spacious Skies Campgrounds, which has 15 campgrounds in 10 Eastern states, has been having a good year with an average of about 7% growth, year over year, according to Ali Rasmussen, Spacious Skies’ co-founder.
But booking windows are definitely shrinking, she said.
“Something that I know many others in the space have been reporting is that the days of seeing your grid book out months to a year in advance are over,” Rasmussen noted. “Our booking windows are extremely compressed. For example, we have a couple of locations where we have achieved almost 50% of our holiday weekend occupancy within the two weeks prior!
“Incredibly, this Labor Day Weekend, same week reservations increased over 30% year-over-year,” she added. “Additionally, Labor Day Weekend 2025 turned out to be our highest occupancy weekend of the year, beating out both Memorial Day Weekend and the Fourth of July by a few points — the first time we’ve seen that.”
Rasmussen believes there are two things happening that are creating shorter booking windows, including economic uncertainties.
“We have weather watchers and we have folks choosing to spend on experiences like camping last minute because more and more they have to weigh expenses in closer to live time. It’s tough out there right now, but we are committed to remaining an affordable option for as many people as possible to get out and escape reality,” she said.
Several park operators told WCM they achieved increases in occupancy by launching aggressive marketing campaigns early in the year to boost occupancies in selected markets. One of those companies is Advanced Outdoor Management, which manages 44 parks across the U.S.
Rachel R. Godbout, AOM’s COO, said the company saw an 8% increase in occupancies in 26 parks of its parks that were open between January and March, compared to the same period last year. Between April and September, when all 44 of the parks AOM manages were open, occupancies increased 16% compared to last year’s figures.
“Collectively,” Godbout said, “we are up by 11% so far this year.”
Godbout attributed AOM’s success to her company’s ability to track data and respond accordingly.
“I believe it’s our overall structure, the ability to watch data, track trends and pivot quickly,” she said. “We made changes very early on when the forecasted trends were declining in transient travel, lead times started declining, and, of course, the political attributes. The benefit of having data for all of these properties across the country and in different dynamics is that the amount of data we have is so deep that we can pivot very early.”
AOM noticed several key changes in consumer behavior early this year.
“We saw the booking lead times drop, more price sensitive shopping, keyword trend drops and changes in shopping patterns of the website visitors,” Godbout said, adding, “We switched to promoting more long-term stays, which increased the focus on booking add-ons, and changed our ad strategy aggressively. Knowing that the booking lead time is shorter makes staffing a little harder, but we operated more lean this year, predicting lower ADRs and possible lower occupancies. We also maximized our OTA (online travel agency) strategies.”
Several park operators said they rely on various types of technology to track changes in consumer and traveler behavior, including Jeff Stoy, who, with his wife, Amanda, co-owns and operates Double Nickel Campground, which is located along Interstate 80 in Waco, Neb. Stoy told WCM he uses both GPT-5 analysis and location analytics, a paid service, to track changes in visitor behavior.
Using GPT-5 analysis, Stoy said, “We export then integrate our reservation data with outside inputs — traffic reports, lodging tax revenue trends, national park closures, interstate construction projects, interstate traffic counts, and event manual RV counts along the Interstate.”
Then, using location analytics, the paid service, Stoy said: “We validate our own baseline travel patterns, then compare them with similarly situated competitors across Nebraska using cellphone location data. This helps us understand whether changes are local, statewide or industry-wide, and whether other parks are pivoting, e.g., shifting from overnight guests toward long-term stays. It also lets us look at other lodging properties, such as hotels, to determine if they are experiencing a similar trend.”
Stoy said Double Nickel Campground is up 1.8% year-to-date, following 2024, his best year on record.
“We anticipate (the year) will end slightly down,” he said.
“Anticipating a slowdown, we added more seasonal sites,” he added, “The steepest decline came from Nebraska residents, tied to the state’s agricultural recession. Out-of-state visits also fell, particularly among higher-end customers.”
Stoy said competition in his region of Nebraska has also increased.
“New parks and expanded facilities in our area created excess capacity just as demand began to soften,” he said.
While many park operators report economic headwinds and competitive challenges, some park operators also see opportunities, among them Mychele R. Bisson, CEO of Bison Peak Ventures, which has grown its portfolio in recent years to include six campgrounds in four states, including Alaska, Florida, Missouri and Virginia.
“Across the board, our parks are up roughly 15%,” Bisson said. “We’ve also seen a significant increase in new visitors — many of whom have never heard of our parks before. What’s even more encouraging is that a number of these first-time guests have already booked multiple trips throughout the season and are reserving sites for next year’s holiday weekends.”
Bisson said Bison Peak Ventures’ parks, all acquired since 2023, have grown as a result of deliberate efforts by her company, which include “increased visibility, social media presence, property upgrades, and more intentional branding.”
Offering more guest activities also helps.
“Each park now offers themed activity weekends, like family field day, glow parties, snow day weekends, and Old West weekends, which have been a big hit,” Bisson said, adding, “Guests are starting to plan their visits specifically around these events.”
Bisson added that her relative newness to the campground industry gives her a fresh perspective.
“We’re still relatively new at this game, compared to many long-time operators, but I think that’s an advantage,” she said. “We aren’t jaded by preconceived ideas of ‘how it’s always been done.’ Instead, we approach decisions by asking, ‘What would we want to do on a weekend?’ That perspective has helped us think outside the box and create experiences that resonate with today’s guests.”
Creating unique experiences has helped Scott Cory boost occupancies at the Ventura Ranch KOA Holiday in Santa Paula, Calif.
“My business is up 23% year-to-date compared to last year,” Cory said.
Granted, part of the increase is due to nearby road closures, which constrained Cory’s business to some extent last year. However, this year is shaping up to be one of Cory’s best years ever. He attributes the growth to his decision — in mid-season last year — to allow outside visitors to come to his park to use his ziplines, which are among the most extensive in Southern California, with 12 ziplines and 12 rope elements. Guests can book reservations online to use the ziplines at specific times, which avoids long lines.
“Our zipline business is up about 80%,” Cory said. “It’s all because we decided to open our ziplines to the general public.”
Cory said he has also learned first-hand that zipline guests also tend to be outdoor recreation enthusiasts who enjoy camping. The ziplines are essentially the bait that entices people into the campground who might not otherwise know it was there — or what it has to offer, in Cory’s case, everything from RV sites to tent sites, tipis and furnished cabins and park models.
“The exposure for our campground has been spectacular,” Cory said, adding that the ziplines are attracting not only individual zipline enthusiasts, but also church and school groups.
“We’ve created value for the people,” he said.
