b'appeal to people who are wanting to leave the traditional hospitality segment. Site Availability: Campgrounds have been full, occupancy is high and availabil-ity is becoming an issue for campers. Theres also a solid case to be made right now for building more campgrounds and adding sites, and as you do this you need to sell the economic impact of camping. Our research showed that last year, Cana-dians spent, on average, $131 a day in theirlocalcommunitieswhenthey camped. That was a 30% increase over the previous year. Overall, were showing thatthetotalamountspentinlocal economies was $7.6 billion last year by campers, and that was a huge increase over the year before. CamperExpectations:Thiscanbe challenging, particularly in the business were in, and you have to continue to keep up. Were an ageless, timeless activity that has a newer, younger tech-savvy genera-tion, and were trying to keep up with their expectations. If we can effectively meet camper expectations, I think that this can be a really big tailwind to keep this mo-mentum going in the industry and keep bringing all these new campers back toof them cited what was occurring aroundworking events where vendors could con- tionanditsmembersthroughvarious camp, and encouraging future generationsCOVID as why they began camping. Whilenect with attendees and other events.products and services that help camp-to camp. Fully 64% of Canadian campers16% of Canadians said that camping be- The conference wrapped up with thegrounds utilize technology, automation and are Gen Z or Millennials. That Boomer gen- came their go-to choice for travel last yearpresentation of industry awards.other tools to maximize efficiency, cus-eration is now just 11%, it came down 16and 40% said it has always been.Twin Shores Camping Area in Princetomer service and ingenuity. points, and this is a snapshot of what theORourke also spoke on the need forEdward Island won the Campground of theRobertTrask,fromChesleyLake Canadiancamperlookedlikelastyearpark owners to do better at rate manage- Year award in the large category (250 orCamp in Ontario, was named the Camping across the board.ment, the importance of marketing parksmore campsites) while Debonair Camp- and RV Industry Person of the Year in COVIDCampers:About15millionto highlight the benefits of camping, theground in Manitoba won the Campgroundrecognition of his decades of commitment households consider themselves campersimportance of technology like Wi-Fi andof the Year award for parks with under 250totheprovincialandnationalassocia-in Canada, 66% of the total population, andEVs and more.campsites.tions, expertise in campground operations 31% of households that camped in theCCRVCalsohostedmultipleeduca- Insider Perks won Supplier of the Yearand tireless support of the industry aspast couple of years just started and mosttional sessions on a variety of topics, net- after its continued support of the associa- a whole. WCM34 April 2023 Woodalls Campground Magazine'