Camping is the widest door into the North American outdoor economy. It reaches tens of millions of households every year, moves money through campgrounds, fuel stations, grocery aisles, gear shops and small tourism towns, and it is where most people first try hiking, fishing or paddling.
The current data also shows a market that is splitting in two. Vehicle-accessible camping is growing quickly. RV camping is contracting. The overall outdoor audience is larger than it has ever been, yet the average participant goes out less often than before the pandemic. Campgrounds are answering with cabins, glamping units, better amenities and online booking that behaves more like a hotel than a park gate.
This report pulls together the most recent public data available in 2026. Where current-year North American figures have not been published, Fizel Research estimates are shown, labelled and explained with the arithmetic behind them.
Built from the 52 million-plus households KOA reported for 2025, grown at a deliberately conservative 2% to account for strong growth in vehicle camping and a decline in RV participation.
Fizel Research, 2026, from Kampgrounds of America 2026 Camping & Outdoor Hospitality Report.
Camping at a glance
The headline figures. Reported statistics carry their source. Everything else is a Fizel Research estimate or calculation.
- 52M+North American households that camped in 2025Kampgrounds of America, 2026
- $66BNorth American camping economic footprint, 2025Kampgrounds of America, 2026
- 42.3MAmericans who camped in vehicle-accessible sites, 2025Outdoor Industry Association, 2026
- +6.2MGrowth in US vehicle-accessible campers since 2020Outdoor Industry Association, 2026
- 93%Campers who also do at least one other outdoor activityOutdoor Industry Association, 2026
- -6.4%Year-over-year change in RV camping participationOutdoor Industry Association, 2026
- $639.5BUS outdoor recreation value added, 2023Bureau of Economic Analysis
- 333,733US RV wholesale shipments, 2024RV Industry Association
- 9.06MOvernight camping stays in the US National Park System, 2024National Park Service
Outdoor Industry Association 2026 Camping Report, KOA 2026 Camping & Outdoor Hospitality Report, US Bureau of Economic Analysis Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account, RV Industry Association and National Park Service.
Two 2026 figures in this report are Fizel Research estimates rather than reported statistics: roughly 53.0 million North American camping households, and a camping economic footprint of about $68.3 billion. Both are derived in the methodology section, and both should be read as planning benchmarks until full-year 2026 industry data is published.
Reported figures come from the Outdoor Industry Association, Kampgrounds of America, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, the National Park Service, the RV Industry Association and Parks Canada. Every figure is labelled United States, Canada or North America. Fizel Research estimates and calculations are labelled wherever they appear and are never presented as third-party data.
Participation is still growing
Vehicle-accessible camping added more than six million American participants in five years.
The clearest current measure of US camping participation comes from the Outdoor Industry Association's 2026 Camping Report. OIA counted 42.3 million Americans in vehicle-accessible camping in 2025, more than two million above the prior year and 6.2 million above 2020.
Subtracting that gain from the 2025 total puts the 2020 base at roughly 36.1 million participants, which works out to about 17% growth across five years. The 2020 figure below is a Fizel Research calculation from OIA's reported change, not a separately published OIA number.
Participants aged six and older who camped in a site reachable by vehicle.
- 202036.1M
- 202542.3M
Millions of participants
Outdoor Industry Association, 2026 Camping Report; 2020 base derived by Fizel Research.Growth of 6.2 million participants, or approximately 17%, over five years.
Outdoor Industry Association, 2026 Camping Report.
The growth matters well beyond the campsite. OIA reports that 93% of campers take part in at least one other outdoor activity, which makes camping the most reliable customer-acquisition gateway in the outdoor economy. A first-time camper is a plausible future buyer of hiking footwear, a fishing licence, a paddleboard or a guided trip.
Share of US campers reporting participation in at least one additional outdoor activity such as hiking, fishing or birding.
- Also do another outdoor activity93%
- Camping only7%
Camping rarely stands alone in a household's outdoor spending.
Outdoor Industry Association, 2026 Camping Report.
A second US source points the same way. The Dyrt, which runs a large camping app, estimated that 81.1 million Americans camped in 2024. That figure sits well above the OIA count because it uses a broader definition of camping and an app-based sample rather than a probability survey, so it is best read as directional support for a growing US base and not as a competing headline number.
More than 52 million camping households
A household measure, counted separately from individual participation.
KOA's 2026 Camping & Outdoor Hospitality Report puts more than 52 million North American households in a campsite during 2025, above pre-pandemic participation. A household count is not the same as OIA's individual participant count, but the two datasets point the same way. Camping held the audience it gained during the pandemic and remains a mainstream form of travel.
A base of 52 million households is large enough to move several parts of the outdoor economy at once: campgrounds and RV parks, outdoor retailers, equipment brands, fuel and convenience retail, restaurants, tour operators, reservation platforms, RV dealers and the local attractions that sit around a destination.
Fizel Research 2026 estimate
KOA's most recent published figure covers 2025. Fizel Research estimates roughly 53.0 million North American camping households in 2026. The model takes KOA's 52 million base and applies about 2% growth. That rate sits well below the 5%-plus growth OIA reported for US vehicle-accessible camping, because the North American household measure also captures RV camping, which fell in 2025.
A single-step calculation from the most recent reported base.
- 52.0M households
- x 1.02 blended growth
= approximately 53.0M households in 2026
Plausible 2026 range: 52.5 million to 53.6 million households. The midpoint is used throughout this report.
A $66 billion economic footprint
What campers spend across the whole trip, not what campgrounds collect.
KOA estimates that campers generated a $66 billion economic footprint in North America in 2025. That is not campground revenue. It captures the spending a camping trip sets off across accommodation, fuel, groceries, restaurants, gear, local activities and transportation.
Divided across KOA's 52 million household base, the 2025 footprint works out to roughly $1,270 per camping household. That per-household figure is a Fizel Research calculation, not a spending average published by KOA.
Fizel Research 2026 estimate
Fizel Research estimates the 2026 North American camping economic footprint at approximately $68.3 billion. The estimate combines about 2% growth in camping households with about 1.5% nominal growth in activity per household. Because fuel prices, travel behaviour and weather can each move a camping season, the sensible planning range is roughly $67 billion to $70 billion.
Total camping-related economic activity, reported for 2025 and estimated for 2026.
- 2025 reported$66.0B
Kampgrounds of America
- 2026 estimate$68.3B
Fizel Research estimate
Billions of US dollars
Fizel Research estimate for 2026, built on the KOA 2025 base.Planning range for 2026: approximately $67 billion to $70 billion.
Kampgrounds of America, 2026 Camping & Outdoor Hospitality Report; Fizel Research, 2026.
The United States measured on a federal basis
KOA's $66 billion figure covers North America and counts all spending connected to a camping trip. The US federal measure is built differently and is worth reading alongside it. The Bureau of Economic Analysis puts value added by the US outdoor recreation economy at $639.5 billion in 2023, equal to 2.3% of US GDP, growing 3.6% in real terms against 2.9% for the economy overall. Within that, RVing accounted for $26.3 billion of value added, the second largest conventional outdoor activity after boating and fishing at $36.8 billion.
- $639.5BValue added by the US outdoor recreation economy2.3% of US GDP
- +3.6%Real growth in the US outdoor recreation economyAgainst 2.9% for the US economy
- $26.3BValue added by RVing in the United StatesSecond largest conventional activity
US Bureau of Economic Analysis, Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account, released November 2024.
Two cautions apply. Value added is not the same measure as total related spending, so the BEA and KOA figures cannot be added together or compared line for line. BEA also does not publish tent camping as a separate activity, which makes RVing the closest camping-specific federal number available for the United States. Canada has no directly equivalent annual satellite account for outdoor recreation, so no matching Canadian figure is shown here.
The casual camper is driving the growth
A wider audience going out less often changes what a campground has to sell.
The important finding in the OIA data is not that participation grew. It is who grew. OIA identifies casual vehicle-accessible campers as the strongest source of momentum, and that fits a broader change across outdoor recreation.
OIA's 2026 Outdoor Participation Trends Report counts a record 183.2 million Americans in outdoor recreation in 2025, or 59% of the population aged six and older. The same report finds that frequency is falling at the same time, with the average participant getting outside fewer times a year than before the pandemic. The audience is wider and less regular at once.
The traditional enthusiast has not disappeared, but the growth is coming from someone else.
Camps a handful of nights a year, often close to home, and decides late.
- Books online, usually on a phone
- Wants amenities and clear information
- Prefers simple or rented gear
- Sensitive to cancellation terms
- Open to cabins and furnished units
Camps regularly, owns the kit and plans a season in advance.
- Books early and repeats destinations
- Buys technical equipment
- Tolerates basic sites
- Often a seasonal-site candidate
- Higher lifetime value per guest
Segments overlap. The commercial point is that the new volume behaves differently from the existing base.
This is the shift behind the rise of cabins, glamping units and furnished accommodation. Each removes equipment and experience from the list of things a guest needs before booking.
RV camping is moving the other way
One market, two very different cost structures.
Camping is not a single uniform market. While vehicle-accessible camping grew strongly, OIA reported that RV camping participation fell 6.4% year over year, with casual RV camping down close to 11%. OIA attributes part of the weakness to the cost of RV ownership and rental.
Reported year-over-year direction by camping segment.
| Segment | 2025 change | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicle-accessible camping | More than +5% | Growing |
| RV camping | -6.4% | Declining |
| Casual RV camping | Close to -11% | Declining sharply |
Segments overlap and should not be summed.
Outdoor Industry Association, 2026 Camping Report.
The barriers explain the divergence. A first-time car camper needs a tent, a sleeping system and one reservation. An RV trip involves a financed vehicle, storage, insurance, fuel and a more expensive nightly site. When household budgets tighten, the second list is where the spending stops.
For campgrounds this means total demand can keep rising while the mix of guests changes underneath it. Sites that were built around long-stay RV guests may need to earn more revenue from tent sites, cabins, rentals and the camp store.
What US RV supply data shows
Participation is only one side of the RV market. On the supply side the RV Industry Association reported 333,733 wholesale RV shipments in the United States in 2024, up 6.6% on 2023. Its 2025 RV RoadSigns forecast was revised down through the year, from a median of 350,100 units in the spring edition to 337,000 units in the summer edition. Forecast figures are projections from ITR Economics, not reported shipments.
- 333,733US RV wholesale shipments, 2024Reported, up 6.6% on 2023
- 337,000US RV wholesale shipments, 2025 forecast medianProjection, revised down from 350,100
- 8.1MUS households that own an RV2025, revised RVIA methodology
RV Industry Association shipment reports and RV RoadSigns forecast, Spring and Summer 2025 editions.
RVIA also counts 8.1 million US households owning an RV in 2025, with a further 16.9 million households saying they intend to buy one within five years. RVIA changed the methodology behind the ownership figure in 2025, so it should not be plotted against earlier ownership estimates as a time series. Read together, the numbers describe a large installed base of US RV owners going out less often, which is the pattern campgrounds are already seeing at the gate.
Seasonality concentrates the year
Canadian federal data on a compressed season, with a pattern US operators will recognize.
Parks Canada's evaluation of its diversified accommodations program shows how compressed the camping calendar is. Average monthly occupancy in the 2023-24 season ran from 54% in October to 91% in August.
Average monthly occupancy across Parks Canada diversified accommodations, 2023-24 season.
- Occupancy (%)
Season average
July and August run roughly 30 percentage points above the shoulder months.
Parks Canada, Evaluation of the Diversified Accommodations Program.
The same evaluation reports average occupancy of 72% for diversified accommodations against 64% for traditional camping options, which is one reason cabins and furnished units keep appearing on campground site maps.
A compressed season has consequences that reach every part of the operation: staffing, cash flow, payment volume, deposits taken months ahead, cancellation exposure, chargeback windows that open long after a stay, camp store inventory, rental fleets and maintenance scheduling. Payment arrangements designed for a merchant with steady year-round volume tend to fit a campground badly. Fizel writes about this pattern in more detail in How Seasonality Shapes Outdoor Businesses.
Public campgrounds are running full
Federal data in both countries shows camping demand well above baseline in marquee destinations.
United States: National Park Service overnight stays
The National Park Service recorded 331.9 million recreation visits in 2024 and reports overnight stays by type. Tent campers accounted for 3,262,996 overnights, recreation vehicles for 2,673,636, concessioner-operated campgrounds for 1,365,243 and backcountry for 1,756,372. Together that is roughly 9.06 million camping overnights inside the National Park System alone, before any state park, US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management or private campground night is counted.
Overnight stays by accommodation type across the National Park System.
- Tent campers3.26M
Reported
- Recreation vehicles2.67M
Reported
- Backcountry1.76M
Reported
- Concessioner campgrounds1.37M
Reported
Millions of overnight stays
Reported figures. Geography: United States.Tent camping remains the largest single overnight category in the US National Park System.
National Park Service, Annual Visitation Summary Report, 2024.
Federal capacity in the United States is larger again. Recreation.gov, the shared booking platform for federal recreation, covers roughly 4,000 federal recreation areas and more than 120,000 individual campsites according to a 2024 Congressional Research Service overview. That single platform is where a large share of American campers now make their first payment of the trip.
Canada: Parks Canada camping nights
Parks Canada's 2024-25 departmental reporting recorded 882,045 camping nights across locations tracked through its reservation system, above the 750,000-night baseline set in 2022-23. At Banff National Park, Parks Canada reported 292,033 frontcountry campsite nights in 2025, with campgrounds fully booked through the peak summer period.
- 882,045Camping nights recorded through the reservation system, 2024-25Parks Canada
- 750,000Baseline camping nights, 2022-23 reference yearParks Canada
- 292,033Banff frontcountry campsite nights, 2025Parks Canada
Parks Canada departmental and park-level reporting.
These Parks Canada numbers cover portions of the federal park system only. They should not be scaled up to private, provincial or municipal campgrounds. What they do show is the intensity of demand in high-profile Canadian destinations, and how much of it lands inside a short window.
The two federal datasets should not be placed side by side as equivalents. The National Park Service publishes national aggregates by overnight type, while Parks Canada reports camping nights through its reservation system and publishes camper nights inconsistently at the park level. No directly comparable public-land camping series exists across the two countries, and this report does not construct one.
Campgrounds are becoming hospitality businesses
More revenue lines per guest, and more payment events per stay.
The old model was simple: a pad or a tent site, a nightly fee and a shower block. Many outdoor hospitality businesses now run something closer to a small resort.
That changes revenue per guest and it changes the payment environment. One guest relationship can now include a deposit taken months ahead, a balance collected before arrival, card-present purchases in the store, a rental with a pre-authorization, an activity fee and a partial refund after an itinerary change.
Booking and payments are part of the product
For most guests, the first transaction happens weeks before they see the property.
Where money moves across a single guest relationship.
- 01Search availabilityAlmost always on a phone
- 02ReserveDeposit or full payment online
- 03Pre-arrival balanceCard on file or a payment link
- 04On siteStore, rentals and activities, card present
- 05ChangesRefunds, date moves, cancellations
- 06RebookRepeat guests, often the same week next year
Each step can sit on a different system if the reservation platform and the payment setup are not aligned.
This is why the relationship between the reservation platform and the payment processor matters as much as the rate. A campground should be able to keep the way it already operates and add acceptance around it, rather than rebuilding the season around a processor's workflow. The capabilities that usually matter are online payments and hosted pages, payment links, mobile and countertop terminals, deposits and pre-authorizations, a virtual terminal for phone bookings, recurring billing for seasonal guests, an integrated POS for the store and reporting that covers more than one property.
Fizel works with campgrounds and RV parks on exactly this mix. See payments for campgrounds and RV parks for the operating detail, or the full guide to payment processing for campgrounds and RV parks.
What camping growth means for retailers and brands
The gateway effect puts campers in other outdoor categories.
Camping matters to businesses that will never operate a site. With 93% of campers active in other outdoor pursuits, camping growth feeds demand across footwear, apparel, fishing, paddling and travel. A rising casual share also shifts what sells: products that are easier to understand, quicker to set up, useful across several activities, comfortable, compact and priced for occasional use.
For retailers the opportunity is less about deeper technical assortments and more about removing friction for a large group of lower-frequency participants. That pattern shows up in Fizel's own retail work in Outdoor Retail Statistics 2026 and in The Outdoor Consumer in 2026.
Sourced figures and Fizel estimates
Every number in this report, with its provenance.
| Metric | Latest figure | Status |
|---|---|---|
| North American camping households | 52M+ in 2025 | Reported, KOA |
| North American camping economic footprint | $66B in 2025 | Reported, KOA |
| US vehicle-accessible campers | 42.3M in 2025 | Reported, OIA |
| Increase in US vehicle-accessible campers since 2020 | +6.2M | Reported, OIA |
| Campers active in other outdoor activities | 93% | Reported, OIA |
| RV camping year-over-year change | -6.4% | Reported, OIA |
| US outdoor recreation participants | 183.2M in 2025 | Reported, OIA |
| Parks Canada camping nights | 882,045 in 2024-25 | Reported, Parks Canada |
| Banff frontcountry campsite nights | 292,033 in 2025 | Reported, Parks Canada |
| Camping economic activity per household | About $1,270 in 2025 | Fizel Research calculation |
| North American camping households | About 53.0M in 2026 | Fizel Research estimate |
| North American camping economic footprint | About $68.3B in 2026 | Fizel Research estimate |
| US outdoor recreation value added | $639.5B in 2023 | Reported, BEA |
| US RVing value added | $26.3B in 2023 | Reported, BEA |
| US RV wholesale shipments | 333,733 in 2024 | Reported, RVIA |
| US RV shipment forecast | 337,000 median for 2025 | Projection, RVIA and ITR Economics |
| US households owning an RV | 8.1M in 2025 | Reported, RVIA, revised methodology |
| US National Park System camping overnights | About 9.06M in 2024 | Reported, National Park Service |
| Americans who camped | 81.1M in 2024 | Reported, The Dyrt, app-based sample |
Household counts and individual participation counts come from different datasets and are not interchangeable. Every row states the country or region it covers.
Outdoor Industry Association, Kampgrounds of America, Parks Canada and Fizel Research, 2026.
The outlook
A larger, more casual and more digital camping market.
Camping enters 2026 on a strong participation base, but the detail is where the commercial signal sits. Growth is coming from accessible, casual participation. RV camping is under cost pressure. Campgrounds are turning into multi-revenue hospitality businesses. Peak-season demand in destination markets remains close to capacity, while booking moves online and accommodation keeps diversifying.
The opportunity is not simply more campers. It is a wider, less frequent and more digitally minded customer spending across campgrounds, retail, equipment, food, fuel and local recreation. For the businesses serving that customer, the work is to make the whole path from search to reservation to payment to next season as easy as the reason people went camping in the first place.
Roughly 53.0 million households spending across campgrounds, gear, fuel, food and local recreation. Planning range: $67 billion to $70 billion.
Fizel Research, 2026, from the KOA 2025 base.
Sources
1. Outdoor Industry Association, 2026 Camping Report. outdoorindustry.org/oia-2026-camping-report
2. Outdoor Industry Association, 2026 Outdoor Participation Trends Report. outdoorindustry.org/2026-outdoor-participation-trends-report
3. Kampgrounds of America, 2026 Camping & Outdoor Hospitality Report. koa.com/north-american-camping-report
4. Parks Canada, 2024 to 2025 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy Report. parks.canada.ca
5. Parks Canada, Evaluation of the Diversified Accommodations Program. parks.canada.ca
6. Parks Canada, Banff National Park Annual Report 2025. parks.canada.ca
7. US Bureau of Economic Analysis, Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account, US and States, 2023. bea.gov
8. National Park Service, Annual Visitation Summary Report, 2024. nps.gov
9. RV Industry Association, 2024 RV shipment report and RV RoadSigns forecast, 2025 editions. rvia.org
10. Congressional Research Service, Recreation.gov: Overview and Issues for Congress, 2024. crsreports.congress.gov
11. The Dyrt, annual camping report, 2025. thedyrt.com
