The year 2003 is proving to be an unusual read for those who have been following the one tourism industry that seems almost stealth-like in its continued growth.  From articles in magazines like Newsweek and Time to positive and upbeat segments on the popular morning news programs, everyone seems to be talking about the growing success and popularity of the recreation vehicle industry. 

In Michigan alone, May figures from Statistical Surveys of Grand Rapids show that motor home sales are up 11.4% year-to-date and towable trailers are up 5.3%.  In a state where there are over 260,000 registered recreational vehicles, one might ask where are they all going?

The Department of Environmental Quality, which licenses all campgrounds with more than five campsites, reports there are nearly 1,200 licensed campgrounds representing over 80,000 campsites in Michigan.  About 22% of those are Michigan State Park campsites. The rest are campsites that are managed by private individuals or companies, county and local units of government, and non-profit organizations such as churches, YMCA/YWCA and others. In fact many of Michigan’s RV owners choose the privately-owned campgrounds because they have found them to be located in areas where nearby state parks are often booked up with reservations long before the camping season arrives.

The Michigan Association of Recreation Vehicles and Campgrounds (MARVAC) is funding a survey, along with ARVC-Michigan, through Michigan State University in order to study the occupancy and reservation rates of many popular privately owned campgrounds across the state.  The early survey results are showing many of those campgrounds surveyed are not at full capacity and offer reservations for many of the summer’s prime vacation weeks and weekends.
 
MARVAC will be studying ways by which it can communicate more information about the privately owned campgrounds to RV owners both in Michigan and throughout the Midwest.  Michigan’s “woods and waters” is the ideal place to bring RV’s for family vacations, and this needs to be conveyed to more people who will bring their tourism dollars to Michigan. 
 
Michigan ranks fourth in the nation behind Texas, California and Florida for the number of new RV’s sold. This says a great deal about the enjoyment our cold weather citizens find in camping in this great State.