RV manufacturers are building lots of RVs and RV dealers are selling lots of RVs. That's good news right? Yes, but there is concern where all of these RVs traveling the highways and byways will stop to spend the night, weekend or weeks-on-end. Talk is there are not enough campgrounds to accommodate all of the campers. I do see campgrounds at full capacity from time to time, but during peak camping season we try to make reservations well in advance so we always have a place to stay.
That's not to say if RV manufacturers continue to build and ship nearly 400,000 units a year there won't be campground shortages in the future. The problem is magnified during the summer months when everybody uses vacation time to take RV trips. The kids are out of school, the weather is great and there are all kinds of activities to do and enjoy.
Recently we took an RV trip not knowing when we would be returning. It just so happened we headed back home over Memorial Day weekend. Every campground we called was completely full and we were lucky to get an overflow site that had water and electricity.
Several years ago when I wrote my RV Campground Basics e-book, data I researched and gathered stated there are approximately 8,500 RV parks and campgrounds in the United States. And currently there are about 9 million RV owning households in the United States.For the sake of an example let's say of the 8,500 campgrounds there are 500,000 campsites available. That would equate to about 60 sites per campground. Nine million RVs divided by a half million campsites would mean there are 18 RVs for every campsite available.
I mentioned earlier this becomes more of a problem during peak camping season.If you keep building and selling 350,000 to 400,000 units a year it won't be long before finding a campsite is a problem year-round. All I can say is plan your RV trips and make campground reservations well in advance or you might be looking for room to park in crowded Walmart parking lot.
Enjoy the newsletter, and if you have family or friends who like RVs and the RV lifestyle share with them. Happy Camping in 2017.
P.S. Enjoy your 4th of July weekend!