Editor’s Note: A line was added to reflect that gas prices rose significantly in March.
When the calendar shifted to 2026, many in the outdoor hospitality industry were wondering how economic factors might impact travelers, and with Memorial Day Weekend in the rearview mirror, many are reporting softer booking numbers as consumer spending slows. March also saw the highest monthly increase in fuel prices since 1967.
However, pinpointing the direct cause of slower bookings is not a refined science, with some pointing to increased gas prices, the continued battle with inflation, a more competitive marketplace and more.
While getting a picture of the environment park owners face is never easy due to the varying landscapes and economic conditions each park faces, Woodall’s Campground Magazine (WCM) touched base with a variety of park operators and gathered data from key reservation platforms to get an idea of where the industry is currently at after Memorial Day Weekend.
Most are reporting weaker Memorial Day weekend bookings compared to last year’s figures, while many park operators now anticipate at least a slight decline in summer bookings, although their outlooks vary widely by region, with some parks showing continued gains over last year’s figures, while others show steep declines.
“Across the Campspot platform, we’re seeing a clear softening in campground demand year-over-year through May 2026,” said Lucas Greenberg, the chief revenue officer for the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based company, which tracks reservation data from its customer base of over 2,600 parks.
Comparing same park performance year-over-year, Greenberg said overall site nights are running about 1.2% below last year’s pace.
“Short-stay transient bookings — the reservations under 28 days that represent the bulk of drive-to camping traffic — are down 2.2% year-over-year, and this trend has accelerated as the year has progressed,” Greenberg said in a prepared statement in response to questions from WCM. “The monthly picture tells the real story. Through the first quarter, transient demand was actually tracking ahead of 2025 — up roughly 3-6% year-over-year in January through March. That reversed sharply starting in April, coinciding directly with the national gas price surge that followed the Strait of Hormuz closure in late February. By May, transient bookings were running nearly 5% below last year.
“Memorial Day weekend saw record overall travel volumes nationally, but campgrounds faced meaningful headwinds: gas prices were up approximately 37% versus Memorial Day 2025, and drought conditions across the Southeast — the worst on record for that region — compounded the pressure in one of the country’s most active camping markets,” he added.
“Regionally,” Greenberg concluded, “the Southeast is the hardest hit, running about 3% below last year. Canada, which doesn’t share the U.S. drought exposure, is the one bright spot, tracking slightly positive year-over-year.”
Billings, Mont.-based Kampgrounds of America, Inc. (KOA), which has over 500 campgrounds across the U.S. and Canada, is also seeing a softening demand for overnight campsites, although KOA attributes the decline to changes in consumer booking patterns.
“After a steady first quarter, we’ve seen short-term reservation activity moderate over the past month compared to last year,” Kimberly Wootteon, KOA’s vice president of commercial strategy, said in a written statement.
Wootteon noted that Memorial Day weekend bookings were down.
“Memorial Day serves as an important indicator of summer travel demand. Holiday occupancy across the KOA system was modestly lower than 2025, finishing just under 5% compared to last year’s occupancy,” she said.
KOA sees these declines reflecting changes in consumer booking behavior.
“These results suggest a more cautious consumer rather than a decline in camping interest,” Wootteon said. “While the change is worth monitoring, we view it less as a demand issue and more as an evolution in consumer booking behavior. Camping continues to attract a growing number of households, but those campers are becoming increasingly intentional with their travel decisions, often taking fewer trips than we’ve seen in recent years.”
Despite the economic headwinds and changes in consumer behavior, KOA remains optimistic about the strength of the summer camping season.
“While summer reservations are pacing slightly behind 2025 levels, we’re not seeing evidence of a dramatic pullback in demand across the KOA system,” Wootteon said. “July remains the strongest month on the books, and we expect booking activity to continue building as we move deeper into the season.”
Wootteon also noted the campground industry’s historic resiliency during changing economic times.
“Consumers are clearly navigating a more uncertain economic environment, but camping has historically proven to be resilient during periods of economic pressure,” Wootteon said. “As we look ahead, we’re optimistic about the summer season. Demand remains present, but travelers appear to be taking a more measured approach, with many making decisions closer to their travel dates than in years past.
“The encouraging sign is that we continue to see sustained engagement with camping overall,” she added. “That suggests consumers are still prioritizing outdoor travel; they’re simply approaching their decisions with greater intention. For campground operators, that means remaining flexible and prepared for continued growth in last-minute bookings throughout the summer season.”
Wootteon also said park operators have opportunities to encourage their guests to extend their stays or to take additional summer camping trips.
“While booking patterns may be evolving, the underlying interest in camping and outdoor travel remains strong,” she mentioned.
Rachel Godbout, chief operating officer of Advanced Outdoor Management, which manages 42 parks in 24 states, has seen a 6% decline in transient bookings this year. But Godbout says she doesn’t see these figures representing a true decline in demand.
“Booking lead times have compressed, and the average length of stay is down about a night. So a meaningful share of what looks like softness may simply be guests deciding later and staying slightly shorter, rather than choosing not to come at all,” she said, adding, “The fundamentals underneath that picture are encouraging. Our long-term and seasonal business is holding steady — if anything, shifting heavier in that direction — which gives us a stable, predictable base. Rate discipline is holding, too. Memorial Day occupancy came in within about half a percent of last year, while our ADR stayed strong. And, as of today, fall is pacing ahead of where we were a year ago on the books, which is a genuinely positive signal heading into the back half of the season.”
Godbout also noted that booking trends vary widely by region.
“Certain markets are feeling it more than others, and those patterns track almost one-to-one with fuel prices — when fuel moves, consumer behavior in those markets follows. We’re seeing that some destinations are more fuel-sensitive than others,” she explained. “Several of our Western and drive-distance markets react more sharply to price swings at the pump, while beach and shorter-haul destinations have proven more resilient. That regional read tells us much of this is macro rather than structural, and it’s something we can manage by leaning into the segments and regions that are performing while staying disciplined on rate.”
Ocean City, Md.-based Blue Water Development Corp., which has 69 owned and managed RV resorts in 25 states, is also seeing softening demand.
“We have seen a slowdown in booking volume and the spring has been softer than anticipated following a good 2025 Q4 – 2026 Q1 booking season,” Samantha D’Armi, Blue Water’s director of marketing operations, said in a written statement.
“We have experienced higher cancellation volumes (year-over-year), but at this point, this is appearing in isolated pockets,” she added. “However, we are analyzing this on a deeper level to identify any trends that are emerging. On a positive note, most regions are pacing ahead in Q3 at this point. Broader economic factors are creating risk and we are approaching the Q3 pace advantage conservatively.”
Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Roberts Resorts, which owns and operates 13 RV resorts in California, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and Texas, is seeing strong demand across its portfolio, although the company is observing changing booking patterns, including weaker demand for fall bookings.
“Memorial Day weekend was strong for us, and occupancy held up well compared to last year, which was encouraging,” Julie Saffell, Roberts Resorts’ chief marketing officer, said in a written statement. “Looking ahead, both our near-term and mid-term booking pace feel solid, and we’re feeling good about the core summer season.
“That said, we have noticed a bit more hesitation around fall bookings,” she noted. “It’s hard to say exactly what’s driving that. It could be economic uncertainty, concerns about fuel costs, or just changes in how people are planning trips. One thing that does seem clear is that lead times are getting shorter. Guests are waiting longer to book and making plans closer to arrival, which makes forecasting a little tougher. Overall, we’re cautiously optimistic, but we’re definitely watching booking patterns closely as the season moves along and adapting our revenue and marketing strategies accordingly.”
Heath, Texas-based Open Road Resorts, which has nine parks in six states, is also seeing strong transient business this year, despite rising fuel costs and other economic concerns.
“Coming into the year, January and February were very strong across our portfolio,” Jim Omstrom, Open Road’s co-founder, said in a written statement. “We started to see some softening on a year-over-year basis in March, which aligned with rising fuel prices and the wave of negative macro headlines. That softness largely reversed itself in April and May, and we’re now seeing improved trends again.
“One notable shift we’ve observed this season is an increase in shorter-term bookings,” he added. “This continues the trend from last year of a shortening booking window, as travelers seem to be waiting longer to commit.”
Omstrom has a positive outlook.
“Net-net, we’re in a good place heading into the heart of the summer season,” he said. “We’re seeing generally strong trends across our locations. While some markets are naturally stronger than others, the portfolio as a whole is performing well.
“I’m optimistic about the upcoming peak travel period,” Omstrom concluded. “Memorial Day weekend was solid — though I don’t have the exact comps in front of me right now— and forward-looking indicators for June–August look healthy.”
Individual park occupancy statistics vary widely by park and by region.
One particularly interesting park to watch is Double Nickel Campground in Waco, Neb., The park, which is located along Interstate 80 about 95 miles west of Omaha, has seen a 30% drop in transient guests so far this year, according to park co-owner Jeff Stoy, who runs the park with his wife, Amanda, and their two sons, Brodie and Zander.
“Because Nebraska functions largely as a pass-through state, much of our weekday business comes from coast-to-coast travelers stopping overnight,” Stoy said, adding, “A reduction in long-distance road trips can, therefore, have a disproportionately large impact on our business compared with destination campgrounds or parks located in major tourism markets.
“What has been most surprising this year is that advance reservations were actually very strong early in the booking cycle,” he explained. “January and February produced some of the strongest forward-booking activity we have seen in recent years. That momentum largely disappeared in March, and reservations have been slow since then. However, cancellations have remained unusually low, suggesting the issue is not travelers backing out of existing trips but, rather, fewer new reservations being made.”
The Stoys also saw a dramatic drop in transient traveler reservations for Memorial Day weekend reservations, which fell by 49% compared with normal Memorial Day levels for their park, which has 50 sites, including 12 seasonal sites, three cabins and one tent pod.
“After seeing the trend develop, we adjusted our operating strategy by converting additional sites to seasonal occupancy. As a result, overall revenue is currently tracking roughly in line with 2025,” Stoy said.
Moreover, Stoy said travel patterns seem to be affected by more than rising fuel costs.
“Our customer base consists largely of RV travelers making interstate trips, and small discounts are unlikely to materially change travel decisions for many of those guests,” he said. “If we were looking for an economic indicator that might influence our customer base, stock market performance would likely be more relevant than fuel prices, since many travelers in this segment tend to be retirees or households with significant discretionary income.
“Some industry reports have pointed to strong demand at national parks, but the location analytics we have reviewed paint a more mixed picture,” Stoy continued. “Preliminary data suggests visitation was down approximately 12% at Yellowstone and down 5.9% at Mount Rushmore, while Rocky Mountain National Park showed a 6.6% increase year-to-date. That suggests travel demand may be shifting rather than uniformly increasing.
“Locally, hotel performance appears to be holding steady or improving, which may indicate a change in travel behavior rather than an overall collapse in travel demand,” he concluded. “At this point, our reservation pace does not suggest a near-term rebound. Forward bookings remain below historical expectations, and current trends indicate conditions are likely to remain challenging unless broader travel patterns change.”
While the Stoys are seeing a significant decline in cross-country travelers, significant numbers of RVers are still making long drives to visit the national parks and other historic sites in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
“May was way up,” said Steve Saint, who co-owns and operates the 100-site Fort Welikit Family Campground in Custer, S.D., with his wife, Kelly. “Reservations are coming in steady, and I believe I am looking at a great year. I would expect that if trends keep going, I will be up from last year by 10% to 15%. I have gotten cancellations for gas and the war itself, but I have two or three travelers ready to take their place. I can usually fill a cancellation within hours, especially for any holiday or event happening here.”
Saint believes the iconic allure of the Black Hills, combined with people’s increased interest in history as America celebrates its 250th anniversary, is contributing to high campsite demand in his area. He also sees many families continuing to visit the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone when they visit the Black Hills.
“I believe that the 250th is helping and there are a lot of people who do not care about gas prices or are budgeting better to make these trips,” he said, adding, “I can say that it is more the older folks cancelling due to gas than the families. The families with the 30-foot travel trailer are still coming, but the older folks with the big 45-foot diesel pushers are the more common cancellations.
“Bear in mind, we have had only a few cancellations due to gas, and nothing really out of the norm or worrisome at this point,” Saint noted. “We always do see people traveling to and from Yellowstone on the same trip. It is quite common. We really promote to families here. We do see quite a few families with children all summer long, and I am usually surprised at the amount we get, even when school is in session as well. One would think that when school is in session, the families would not travel, but we still see more than expected.”
Business levels are mixed, however, in many areas of the country.
“This season has been slower than expected,” said Marcia Galvin, co-owner of the 400-site Normandy Farms Campground in Foxboro, Mass., outside of Boston, Mass. “We were down significantly in April, but May bounced back a bit to be down 2%. The look at the summer shows a lower occupancy than previous seasons. Our advance reservations aren’t as strong. We are also welcoming the World Cup to Foxborough Stadium over the next month and have over 300 international guests staying with us from Scotland to Australia, and many Ontario guests. This event will skew our numbers, but we still anticipate this will be a down season for many economic reasons.”
MaKayla Wells, operations manager for Lone Mountain Riverfront Campground in Andover, Maine, said her business is “looking strong.” “I have seen guests staying longer due to the gas prices, but no decrease in reservations,” she said.
Pat O’Neill, who co-owns and operates Twin Lakes Camp Resort in DeFuniak Springs, Fla., said he has seen “a slight decline from last year in some ways, like rentals for Memorial Day, but last-minute callers filled up the sites and a few more rentals.”
He said he expects his summer season to be better than last summer.
In coastal Southern California, the summer business appears steady at Campland on the Bay in San Diego and at Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort & Marina in Newport Beach, according to Jan Yerzik, who handles marketing for both resorts.
“We are seeing steady occupancy for the busy summer months,” she said. “Our weekdays are a little light. We are hearing that while money is tight, people still want to vacation. Instead of flying somewhere since airfares are so high, they may go camping nearby instead.”
