b'INDUSTRY NEWSEnergy & Growth Highlight CARVCs 22 Spring Conference in Myrtle BeachTheCarolinasAssociationofRVof four parks, including Parks and Campgrounds (CARVC) heldHoldenBeachRV a successful 2022 conference and expoC a m p g r o u n d , inMyrtleBeach,S.C.,thatattractedSeaBreezeCamp-morethan150campgroundowners,ground (which is under employees and developers, officials said.construction),Carroll-Featuring the theme Back to the Fu- woods RV Campground ture, Dee Witting, executive director ofand Winery for a wine CARVC,toldWoodallsCampgroundtastingandlunchand Magazine (WCM) that the conferencewrapped up the day at alsofeaturedmorethan40vendors,Dee Witting Hideaway RV Resort. bringing the total attendance figures toEducational sessions about 200.at the conference covered a wide array of different topics in-There is a lot of energy right now in the industry and it wascluding customer service and technology issues. One session great to see that at the conference, she explained. There werefeatured a large panel of experts that spoke about emergingTrends & Insights a lot of new faces and possible buyers at the conference.technology, electric vehicles and even phone apps. Along with holding its own board meetingsone for NorthIt was an excellent panel, Witting mentioned.Report from ARVC Carolina and one for South CarolinaCARVC also allowed theCARVC was also able to have both of its lobbyists in atten-newly formed Georgia Association of RV Parks and Camp- dance, both of whom gave updates on legislative items movingContinues to Show grounds to host its own board meeting at the conference.through each states legislator. That association is just getting started and we are hoping toForty-two vendors took part in the conferences trade continue building a relationship with them, Witting pointedshow, and Witting said that the vendors reported a very pos- Growth in Industry out. We had representatives from more than 40 campgroundsitive experience. Sponsorships for this years conference were in Georgia take part in this conference.also up.The National Association of RV Parks The Campground Connection also held a successful BuyersCARVCs annual auction raised close to $15,000, an increaseand Campgrounds (ARVC) continues to Workshop, with Witting noting that more than 45 attendees tookfrom previous years, and that money is set to go towards the as- highlight the growth of the outdoor hos-part in those sessions.sociations marketing and legislative initiatives.pitality industry, noting that more than We had more developers and people looking to buy a parkCARVCs board meeting elections were held and Witting said81,000campsitesareexpectedtobe here than normal, she said.that there were no changes being made to the board in 2022.added over the next year, according to its In its fourth year, the Take Away Tours that CARVC puts to- Adam Smith is continuing on as CARVCs president.2021 Trends and Insights Report. gether continue to grow, with about 55 taking part in those toursNext years conference will again be held in Myrtle BeachBased on completed surveys last fallon the first day of the conference. This year the group took toursfrom Feb. 5-7.Ben Quiggle WCM both from ARVC-member and non-mem-berparksDavidBasler,ARVCsvice KOA: More Than 8 Million Black Households Camped in 2021 president of membership and marketing, toldWoodallsCampgroundMagazine Kampgrounds of America Inc. (KOA)of its monthly research reports. This in-One-third of Black campers plan to(WCM) that the RV park and campground celebrated Black History Month in Feb- crease is a stark contrast to the 3.1 mil- purchase an RV in 2022sector continues to see growth. ruary with the release of the 2022 Blacklion Black camping households in 2017. 60% camp with multi-generationalEvery year we extrapolate the number Community Camping Snapshot, whichIncreasing 158% over the last five years,groupsof campsites that will be added over the highlightsthecontinuedgrowthofdemand for camping among the Black 72% of Black campers are either Mil- next year and in this report that number campings popularity among Black U.S.community shows impressive growth.lennial or GenZstands at 81,700, which is a considerable audiences.Other data points include: Biking (43%), fishing (31%) and ca- number of new sites, he explained. Black campers represent eight million 61% of Black campers prefer tentnoeing/kayaking (31%) are among theThe findings of the survey are broken camping households in the U.S., withcamping over other lodging optionstop camping recreation activitiesdownbyregionandtouchonexpan-27% who were new to camping in 2021, 46% take more than three campingToviewthefullreport,visitsion/development trends, demographics, based on data collected by KOA as parttrips a yearwww.koapressroom.com WCM amenities, site rates and more. ARVC has been conducting this research for a num-ber of years now, and Basler pointed out that trends are heading in a positive direc-tion for the industry as a whole. More than half (58%) of park owners reported an increase in main season oc-cupancy in 2021 when compared to 2020, up from the 40% that reported an increase over 2019. Along with reporting an increase in oc-cupancy, nearly two-thirds (64%) antici-pated their profits were going to move up in 2021 with only 4% expecting a decrease in revenue. On the rate side, 55% of parks reported an increase in nightly/weekly rates, while a third saw no change and 3% reported a decrease in rates. Park owners are finding that the desire to RV and camp is still very high and that they can comfortably increase rates. A lot of parks are also doing dynamic pricing now, which increases the rates based on demand, explained Basler.While revenue is moving up, park own-ers are also reinvesting in their parks, with two in three (66%) reporting that they have made infrastructure improvements, 47% improving their existing amenities and33%notingtheyhaveadded sites/units during 2021. ARVCcontinued on page6WOODALLSCM.com April 2022 3'