More Than Half of Campers Report Difficulty Booking Campsites Because They Are Sold Out

PORTLAND, Ore., March 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Dyrt, the only camping app with all of the public and private campgrounds, RV parks, and free camping locations in the United States, found that 56.1% of campers said they had a difficult time booking a site in 2024 because campgrounds were full. The portion of campers experiencing the campsite crunch is once again near its peak of 58.4% from 2022 after dropping to 45.5% in 2023.

These statistics are from the 2025 Camping Report Presented by Toyota Trucks, the most comprehensive look at the latest trends, topics and figures for the U.S. camping industry. The latest version of The Dyrt's annual report is compiled from the results of surveys conducted with three groups — thousands of members of The Dyrt camper community, a representative sample of U.S. residents, and camping property managers across all 50 states.

Back in 2019, the percentage of campers who reported difficulty finding a campsite to book was just 10.6%. That number took a big jump in 2020 to 26.9% and inched up again in 2021 (30.2%) before exploding in 2022. Not surprisingly, the Pacific Region had the highest percentage of campers who reported trouble booking at site at 66.1%. That's more than 10 points higher than every other region in the country.

"We really want to see less friction in the campsite marketplace," The Dyrt founder Sarah Smith wrote in the report. "The camping community is happier and healthier when people can find a site to book with relative ease. While increased inventory from private campgrounds helped bring this number down in 2023, interest remains extremely high in competitive public campgrounds with a fixed number of sites."

Plenty of alternatives exist for those squeezed out from the most sought-after destinations. Glamping is the type of camping with the most availability, as survey respondents who favor glamping reported 34.4% less difficulty than average in finding an available campsite to book.

"We were planning a trip through Utah last spring to visit the Mighty 5, as well as Great Basin National Park in Nevada," says The Dyrt camper Jon C. of Idaho. "Because of the popularity of all of those parks, we tried to book ahead of time. We were signed on and ready to book immediately as the windows opened. In every case, without exception, all available sites were booked before we could pull the trigger.

"We then started looking at nearby state parks and were ultimately able to find sites. As it turns out, we were much happier with the state parks and glad that things worked out that way; however, we had to be flexible with our dates and keep trying days further out until we found a match and could book our stays. The end result was that the dates we were able to book sites drove our travel plans, instead of the other way around. Fortunately, we're retired and were able to be flexible. I pity the folks that are locked into specific timeframes because it's got to be dang near impossible to find places to camp in any of the popular areas these days without being extremely flexible."

For those who have their hearts set on a sold-out campground, The Dyrt Alerts are availability scans that help campers get reservations. The Dyrt scans sold-out campgrounds and sends a text message when a campsite opens up.

About The Dyrt

The Dyrt is the only camping app with all of the public and private campgrounds, RV parks, and free camping locations in the United States, along with millions of user-generated campground reviews. With The Dyrt PRO, campers get comprehensive free camping tools, reservations at sold-out campgrounds, advanced route planning and maps, as well as discounts on camping. The Dyrt's 2025 Camping Report Presented by Toyota Trucks and informed by the largest online camping community is the leading source of information for the camping industry. www.thedyrt.com

Media Contact:
Mike Wollschlager
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SOURCE The Dyrt