Embedded in American roadtripping, KOA has learned some things about camping

Come mid-June of this year, Toby O’Rourke had gotten herself into a little trouble with her kids because she had not yet taken them camping.

She’s the CEO of KOA, the iconic, yellow-logoed “Kampgrounds of America,” which has more than 500 locations across the U.S. and Canada. Sometimes her responsibilities get in the way of the foundational reason the company exists: to connect people with the outdoors and with each other.

“The connection that happens on campgrounds is really special and unique,” O’Rourke said. “And it’s not replicated many places anymore.”

It’s a sense shared by the 52 million households who chose to camp last year. That’s a figure 24% higher than it was in 2019, before the pandemic sent record-high numbers of folks to the outdoors. Some 60% of families believe camping offers a better chance to connect with one another than other forms of travel and about 80% said they feel more engaged and present with their children — or less distracted — when they’re camping.

Those findings are just a small few pulled from the data that KOA has collected and catalogued about North American camping habits for more than 20 years. KOA published findings from the last 12 years in the annual “Camping & Outdoor Hospitality Report.”

The nearly 60-page booklet covers everything from basic visitation numbers and current camping trends through demographic differences and includes more modern considerations like technology’s influence and nature’s implications for health.

While those alone could offer a clear glimpse into the world of North American camping, the data doesn’t stop there. The stats include figures about the outdoor recreation economy, the broader camping community and specific insight into the relationship between camping and family values.

“There’s just such a special thing about a campground. You go there and you talk to your neighbors and your kids run off to the playground and play together and you don’t worry about them,” O’Rourke said.

“I wouldn’t let my kids do that in a hotel, and I certainly wouldn’t be having someone stop by and tour my hotel room like people peek in and look at your RV.”

Some of O’Rourke’s reasons for not getting her family camping — they live in Billings, Montana, where the brand was founded and is now based — are also found in the data. It turns out that finding the time is hard for everyone, not just CEOs.

But among so much information, it’s hard for O’Rourke to pinpoint what is the most salient — they’re all relevant in some way. Some she appreciates more as a mom and others as a business leader, but she said the mounting evidence about nature’s health impact and the connections it can foster are particularly exciting.

“It’s a really unique thing I think that exists,” she said about the way strangers tend to engage with one another while camping. “I don’t really know how to bottle that and sell it, but that’s what we try to do.”

What else is in the data?

The report summarizes “the most compelling” elements from this year’s report as those that show how the camping industry is adapting “to meet diverse needs,” with more glamping, accessible campsites, and pet-friendly options.

O’Rourke said one of the things she likes most about camping is there are so many different, diverse ways to do it. Backcountry camping, RV camping, Hip-camping — a platform that offers private land to people looking to camp — and, of course, camping at a KOA.

“We totally understand we just represent a segment of people who want to camp at a place like KOA,” she said. “But we’re all about ... getting as many people outside as possible, and that just grows the whole pool of campers for everybody. I think that’s what’s special, right?”

But the report’s summary also mirrored O’Rourke’s points: Campers are motivated to “seek wellness through unstructured time in nature, authentic third-place community and meaningful connection — values that camping uniquely fills."

The scale of campers is impressive. While numbers did spike during the pandemic, it appears those new campers are sticking around. It’s no longer a niche, but rather a mainstream, American pastime.

One major difference, though, is that while campers used to go out several times a year — as many as 47% in the past — now the majority camp just once a year.

That can be chalked up to a lot of factors, O’Rourke said, but economics and time likely play primary roles.

“Ahead of the pandemic, we saw people camping more frequently than we do now, and I think that’s very much driven by the K-shaped economy we’re in,” O’Rourke said, referring to the phenomenon where one segment of people are thriving financially while the other — in the current iteration, the vast majority — languishes.

“Now, there are certain segments that are traveling more, spending more. There are others that are more financially constrained, that are making tougher decisions about how they spend their money, maybe only taking one trip a year versus three.”

As for time, many folks likely identify with that assessment. Between shorter summer breaks from school and people’s busy lives, camping’s less of a priority.

“We would love to be camping a few weekends this summer. Everything seems to get eaten up with kids’ activities or my work schedule,” O’Rourke said. “I’m already in trouble because we haven’t been camping and we just haven’t had time to yet. You know, time is such a scarce resource for people.”

Health and family

As a mom, O’Rourke pointed out how much of a priority parents placed on “unstructured play,” which kids create from their own imagination without rules or guidance. Nearly 60% of parents said so.

“That jumped out at me and just kind of felt like it smacked me in the face,” O’Rourke said. “But when I was thinking about that in terms of my own kids and making sure they’ve got more just-let-them-be-bored (time,) or let them just be outside ... you don’t have to have an activity.”

Just being outside provided a sense of well-being for 77% of people. Nearly 80% also said that spending time outside had a positive impact on their mental health and that’s a reason they went camping.

Part of that is people wanting to unplug themselves from screens. O’Rourke said people naturally disconnect when they’re at the campgrounds.

“Definitely all KOAs, we’re very proud of it, have Wi-Fi. You can be connected, but we hear it from campers that, ‘My kids were on the jumping pillow, they put down their phones, they put down their iPads,’” O’Rourke said. “So we naturally hear that come back to us from campers without us having to suggest it.”

Health and the outdoors is something KOA has recognized for a long time. For 40 years, it has partnered with Care Camps Foundation, an organization that funds medically supervised summer camp for kids who are fighting cancer.

“They’re beautiful places that allow children — and their families and their siblings — with cancer, to go to camp because they believe these children need a break. These children need camping, they need this outdoor environment," O’Rourke said. “I’ve been to these camps and you just see it in action. These kids are smiling and happy. Maybe this isn’t curing these children physically, but mentally this has a huge impact on them and their families.”

That is something else that showed up in its data. More than 80% of people found that when they were in the outdoors they slept better, felt recovery and their stress reduced.

“We do research with kids and they’ll say, ‘My parents relax when they’re camping,’” O’Rourke said. “That word relax is like — Oh, my gosh, especially to hear that played back from a kid — that kind of hit me in the gut as a parent."

‘You should come back’

While a wide swath of North American society is getting outside, there are some unexpected distributions. Across age ranges, about 30% of the silent, boomer and millennial generations are represented.

At the same time, Gen Zers make up the remainder, having not yet caught the bug. The largest growth in new campers were baby boomers, with a 25% increase last year.

Diversity is also on the rise, with more than half of campers in 2025 not identifying as white. As outdoor activities have not been diverse spaces in the past, this too is a sea change for the industry.

The introduction to camping is clearly very important, O’Rourke said, as are different life stages that trigger people to get back outside. Those are things like having children or befriending someone who has never been.

It’s with this in mind that KOA tries to make the experience easy for people by adding amenities, offering cabins so the barriers of tents and RVs do not prevent people from trying it out. “Easing friction points,” O’Rourke said.

Another way is to help let people know that it’s good for their well-being, that it will benefit their physical and mental health and strengthen their sense of community.

“It’s the overall impact of stress reduction,” O’Rourke said. “Families can be strengthened by spending time together outside or at campgrounds. And it’s a big impact on relationships, which ultimately is a big impact on health too.”

O’Rourke also mentioned another data point that’s more anecdotal than scientific: People often tell her about how they got into camping.

“‘Oh, I used to camp, or my dad took me camping, or my grandma,’” she said. “I always try to invite people back. I say, ‘You should come back to KOA.’”