b'and were seeing that 57% say the availability of vaccines will have an impact on their summercamping plans and about a third of people say they want to be vaccinated before they go camp-ing again, noted ORourke. Another 28% are waiting for more people to be vaccinated beforethey camp.First-time campers in 2020 were more likely than first-time campers in 2019 to startcamping in glamping accommodations. Of first-time campers, 28% indicated they started theircamping experiences in some type of glamping accommodation compared to only 11% of ex-perienced campers and 14% of first-time campers in 2019. Additionally, half of first-timecampers said they had a glamping experience for the first time in 2020, up from 3-in-10 in2019.Campers were somewhat more likely to travel a little farther in 2020. Previously, mostcampers stayed within 50 miles from home (29%), but in 2020 (19%) were more likely to ven-ture 100 to 150 miles.Canada saw tougher restrictionsOn the Canadian front, the report shows that Canada, in the face of more stringent restrictionsdue to COVID-19, has seen more of a direct impact to the camping market.Optimism for future camping trips is up, however, among Canadian campers with 57% in-tending to camp more in 2021.Tenting offers a lower barrier to entry and its more affordable versus an RV, explained ORourke. What struck me is that Canada didnt have near the number of new campers, with only 5%We always see that the majority of people who camp are tenters, so it naturally makes sense as of campers in Canada new to camping versus 21% in the U.S., ORourke said. We didnt seemore new people first start camping, were going to see an increase in tenting. If they wanted their that first-time camper influx in Canada that we saw here in the U.S. I found that interesting, butown equipment, in their own space, tenting was a good alternative for a lot of people. I do think that the pandemic is going to continue to play a larger role in people getting out andBut we also saw that a quarter of people that did camp did so in an RV, she continued. camping this year.We saw a big jump in ownership of RVs last year, a lot more people owning RVs than the year Some parts of the country are still under stay-at-home orders, while the U.S./Canadian borderbefore. Good, healthy indications of people wanting to buy new RVs or upgrade their RVs this is still closed and restrictions have been tighter in Canada, noted ORourke.year. I think those trends are very strong and will continue into this year and beyond on the KOA Reportcontinued on page 32RVing side.Other key data pointsTop considerations when staying at a campground: Safety and security (36%), camp-ground atmosphere (29%), clean and well-maintained bathhouse/restrooms (29%), allows petsand has a pet area (29%), kid friendly (28%), family-style bathrooms with showers (26%), full-service RV sites (26%), cabins (25%), easy in/easy out pull-thru sites (25%) and a campgroundstore (24%).More than half of campers say that access to cell or Wi-Fi service has a great deal ofimpact on the length of trips.First-time campers and couples with children say that Wi-Fi serv-ice impacts how often they camp. First-time campers are most impacted by Wi-Fi access, at-tributing nine additional days of camping to it versus six days for experienced campers.About 6 in 10 RV owners say they plan some type of change or upgrade to their RV in2020, though one in five are uncertain about what those changes may be. Thirty-two percentplan to move to a bigger RV, 28% plan to find an RV with more or better amenities and 24%want an upgrade.Two-thirds of camper households indicate that availability of vaccines will allow them tocamp more and take different types of trips. Were doing research on a monthly basis nowWOODALLSCM.com June 2021 23'