Study: More than half of all campers abandoned a reservation in 2023

News and Adventure from Glacier National Park

According to a recent study, only 42.7% of campers reported using all of their reservations in 2023. In other words, more than half booked a campsite that they didn’t use, thus likely leaving it unavailable for someone else to possibly use. In conjunction with this bloated statistic, 45.5% of all campers reported having difficulty in booking a site because campgrounds were completely sold out.

Earlier this year The Dyrt, the No. 1 app for camping availability, photos and reviews, published the results of its 2024 Camping Report. Published in conjunction with Toyota, the organization claims this is the most in-depth and comprehensive look at the camping industry to date. The Dyrt receives more than 30 million visits from campers each year, and has more than 12 million user-generated reviews, photos and tips for every RV site, cabin, glamping and tent camping location, including all public, private and free camping areas in the United States.

The 2024 Camping Report was compiled from the results of surveys conducted with three groups: 7000 members of The Dyrt camper community, a representative sample of 1000 U.S. residents, and camping property managers across all 50 states.

Here are a few key takeaways from the survey:

* An estimated 84.8 million Americans went camping in 2023. 5.5 million (6.5%) of those were first-time campers.

* Tent camping was the primary style of camping for 31.4% of all respondents, with the rest being primarily RV, Truck and Camper Van campers.

* More than 57% of campers reported cancelling at least one reservation in 2023. Among this group, 87.2% said they cancelled a reservation more than 48 hours prior to the date. 32.2% cancelled at least one reservation less than 48 hours from their date, while 14.9% were simply no-shows at least once in the prior year. According to the data, Millenials and Gen-Xers were much more likely to “ghost,” or not show up for their reservation.

* 45.5% of all campers reported difficulty in booking a site due to campgrounds being sold out. This number is four times higher than what was reported in 2019.

* 23.4% of all campers reported arriving at a first-come, first-served campground that was full. This is double the percentage from 2019.

Clearly, this is an unsustainable model for all those involved. The survey doesn’t reflect the question, but I would be curious to know how often backcountry campsite reservations in national parks are abandoned at the last minute. My guess is that this is likely happening with timed-entry reservations to enter national parks as well. People are likely over-booking camgsites and park entry systems, for a variety of reasons, with the end result of denying access to others. Perhaps campgrounds will be forced to make more of the their sites available on a first-come, first-served basis. Perhaps camgrounds will be forced to require a non-refundable deposit for reservations cancelled before a certain time period.

A few other trends of note:

* One-third of all campers reported camping in the winter. This represents a 40% increase since the start of the pandemic.

* 28.9% of all campers reported that they worked during their trip.

* Camping alone is on the rise, with 29.8% of respondents reporting that they went camping by themselves in 2023.

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