Campers don't have to sacrifice the creature comforts

GETTYSBURG, Pa. -- At the Battlefield KOA Campground here, you can catch up on e-mail at your campsite, take in an evening movie on a 9-foot inflatable outdoor screen, lounge by the pool, play a round of mini golf or try your hand at Extreme Hunting, one of the arcade games in the game room. There's live music on Saturday nights and pancake breakfasts on weekend mornings, and if you don't feel like cooking, you can have dinner delivered to your RV door, tent flap or what-have-you.

Heck, you don't even have to really camp at this wooded 25-acre site, thanks to its growing inventory of air-conditioned cabins, cottages and lodges — essentially, tricked-out trailers done up to look like hand-hewn log dwellings.

"So much for getting away from it all," owner John Bergeron says with a laugh.

But getting away they are. By many accounts, business is brisk this summer at campgrounds nationwide. The sinking economy may have put the brakes on taking the Grand Tour, but many Americans still want to get away. And with relatively low gas prices, more people are pulling into campgrounds.

Campground reservations through ReserveAmerica.com, which books campsites in most national parks, are up 8% over last year in the first six months of 2009.

KOA Kampgrounds of America, a network of 460 commercial campgrounds, reports a 5% increase in June occupancy. REI, an outdoor-gear chain, says sales of family tents were up 17% in June over last year. The retailer also saw double-digit increases in sales of related products, such as air mattresses and campground stoves.

A recent survey by the Outdoor Foundation, a non-profit group that promotes outdoor activities, indicates camping's popularity rose 7.4% in 2008 after a decline the year before. Overnight backpacking grew by 18.5%, the group reports.

"People are returning to simpler lifestyles — the 'less is more' ethic," says the foundation's Christine Fanning. "And everyone is searching for vacations that fit with today's economy."