Greg Gerber posted on November 26, 2008 16:12
CROWLEY, Texas -- The recent roller coaster ride in fuel costs has failed to deter recreational vehicle enthusiasts from enjoying private campgrounds and RV resorts in Texas, according to a recent online survey by the Texas Association of Campground Owners (TACO).
The survey, conducted in October, found that 82 percent of RV enthusiasts planned to use their RVs this fall at least as much as they did last year at this time.
“The economic downturn and the turbulence we’ve experience with fuel costs are not discouraging people from enjoying the RV lifestyle,” said Brian Schaeffer, TACO’s executive director. However, RV enthusiasts are taking shorter trips and they are camping closer to home, he said.
The October survey, conducted through www.texascampgrounds.com, generated 586 responses, Schaeffer said. He said 46 percent of respondents said they planned to use their RV this fall as much as they did last year, while another 36 percent said they planned to use their vehicle even more than last year at this time. Eighteen percent of respondents said they planned to use their RV less frequently this fall.
Several Texas campgrounds that cater to winter visitors are already booked up for the 2008-2009 winter camping season, and many others are filling up quickly, according to TACO.
“Winter reservations for campgrounds and RV resorts in Texas are as strong as they’ve ever been,” said Schaeffer. He said Canadians, in particular, are flocking to the Lone Star State in record numbers, largely because of the relative strength of the Canadian dollar and because of the relatively low cost of spending the winter in Texas parks as opposed to parks in other pricier Sunbelt destinations, such as Florida and California.
“Ten years ago,” Schaeffer said, “we’d send four or five Texas RV Travel & Camping Guides a month to people in Canada. But these days, we send 30 or 40 a week.”
Some parks are already booked up for the winter. “We stopped taking reservations two months ago,” said Mac McLaughlin, co-owner of the 129-site Hatch RV Park in Corpus Christi, adding that his park continues to see large numbers of Canadians. “We had four times as many Canadians last year as the year before,” he said.
McLaughlin said about 20 percent of his winter visitors arrive just after Thanksgiving, although he’s already had “about eight or nine” show up at his park unexpectedly. He said the remaining 80 percent of his winter visitors will arrive at his park just after Christmas. “A lot of Winter Texans like to spend Christmas at home,” he said.
“Our monthly reservations look pretty good for the season,” said Don Temple, owner of 202-site Guadalupe River RV Resort in Kerrville. “We continue to get the unexpected, which is drop ins. We had several people come in this week that want to stay two, three or four months that we didn’t know anything about.”
Bryan Kastleman, owner of Hill Country RV Resort in New Braunfels, said his winter business is looking strong, too, though he still has a few sites yet to fill. “We’ve got a lot of reservations,” he said. “We’re planning on a really strong winter.”
SOURCE: Human Events