A mixed bag of news comes out of Florida as RV park owners in the Sunshine State stir their tea-leaves, attempting to predict what the snowbird season will bring. According to the “official” word of the Florida Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds, announced mid-month, RV park reservations are up.

‘Not so fast!,’ says an informal survey conducted by the Sebring News-Sun newspaper. According to writers at the News-Sun, published in Sebring, a south-central Florida town, not all RV park owners are claiming rosy reservations.  “The majority of resort managers report business is much as it was in the 2008-09 winter season, which was slower than the season before,” says the article, published last Sunday. “‘I don’t think we’re up from last year,” said E.J. Koning of Lake Letta RV Park. “It was slow then and it’s slow now.’”

Others made similar comments. “‘I really don’t know,’ said Patty Sanor of Lake Glenada RV & Mobile Home Park. ‘We’ve had quite a few cancellations so it’s hard to say. We were down last year and it looks the same this year.’ At the Mossy Cove Fish Camp, Jimbo Sanders was the least optimistic. After remarking that some managers inflate their booking figures, he said, ‘The truth is reservations are lower this year. The regulars are coming back, but we’re aren’t getting near the number of calls (we’ve had in the past).’”

Out west, at least in the Snowbird Belt town of Quartzsite, Arizona, on-the-ground observations indicate this could be a big year for RV parks and especially for public land agencies who host visiting RVers. For late October, the number of RVs already present seems to be on an increased level, when compared with the same time in prior years. Time will tell.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 9:56 am and is filed under Florida, rv parks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.