Nature Boy Forever? Consumers Forecast To Continue Outdoorsy Trend

With more Americans than ever looking to get outdoors, the entire outdoor recreation industry has seen significant gains in the past year. Because RVs are the perfect way to experience an active outdoor lifestyle, the increases in all types of outdoor recreation bodes well for the future of the RV industry. The study in the article below shows hiking, fishing, and camping as top hobbies for those participating in outdoor recreation, which are also top hobbies for RV owners as shown in the Go RVing RV Owner Demographic Profile. 

Americans who took to the great outdoors during the early pandemic days are still out there. And experts are forecasting their newfound love of nature activities -- including camping, hiking and water sports -- is here to stay.

While demand surges, supply-chain snarls and store closures clouded many retailers' results over the past year, trends are becoming clearer. L.L. Bean, for example, recently reported a 5% increase in net revenue, with annual sales hitting $1.59 billion. Sales of its winter sports gear shot up 49%, while water sports equipment, including canoes, kayaks and paddleboards, soared 83%.

And new data from the Outdoor Industry Association says there’s been the biggest jump -- up 2.2 percentage points -- in outdoor participation in 10 years of tracking. Some 52.9% of its sample say they took part in outdoor activity in 2020, up from 50.7% in 2019 and 50.5% in 2018.

The OIA, which plans to release the full findings of several new research initiatives this year, says topline results show that camping participation grew 28%, with 7.9 million more campers. Hiking rose 16.3%, which amounts to about 8.1 million more people hitting the trails. Freshwater fishing increased 8.6%, adding 3.4 million participants.

Check out the full article from MediaPost here.