Camping surges in popularity since pandemic began

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Camping is growing in popularity across the United States, especially in Nebraska.

According to Kampgrounds of America, just last year nearly 48 million households went camping, including 10 million new campers.

In Lincoln, they’re seeing the same trend of new campers, according to Camp A Way general manager Chris Queen. Not only is the campground seeing residential campers, but also campers from other states and all over the country.

“There was uncertainty but there’s a lot of resilience for people renting campers and things like that, traveling back-and-forth. Then camping became one of the only ways to have a vacation, to have any recreation, getting outside the house in a safer environment,” Queen said.

Experts believe the pandemic played a role in increased camping while hotels and airlines were closed.

As vaccines become available and the weather warms up, camping isn’t expected to go away any time soon. Fast forward to this year and Queen said more campers are making reservations because of the increased demand.

“Just finding anything, whether to a state park, or one of our neighboring campgrounds in Omaha or York, the campsites weren’t available for them to use because they were occupied. Those campers learned to start planning a little bit farther in advance,” Queen said.

Queen said that Memorial Day weekend was one of the busiest they’ve had, and he was most impressed with the joy campers showed.

While Camp A Way does recommend reservations, they still do their best to accommodate all campers throughout the year. You can find more information on the campground and book reservations on their website here.

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