Page 17 - Northeast In-Sites - The Newsletter of the Northeast Campground Association, Inc. - Number 131, May 2022

Kathy Dyer Kitty Winship
MECOA Executive Director NCA Representative
NCA Maine Report
March, 2022
Kitty Winship – Maine Representative

Hi Friends!

I hope you are all healthy and enjoying your winter! Spring is right around the corner and Maine parks are
gearing up for another spectacular season! Our member parks are reporting strong reservations for 2022.
Reservations are coming in fast and furious and many parks already nearly full for the 2022 camping
season. Many guests made their reservations upon departing from their 2021 stay.

But what about those gas prices? Do we think they will have an impact on our 2022 travelers? What we have
heard here in Maine is we don’t think they will affect us a whole lot– folks are still very excited to get out, socially
connect again without restrictions, and they are not willing to give up their vacations. They may cut costs in other
areas, they may lengthen their stay and not travel as frequent on small trips but phones are ringing off the hook,
reservations are coming in strong and most seasonal sites full.

Our 2022 Maine Camping Guide is in circulation. We printed 160,000 copies again and the guide is on our home
page of Campmaine.com in a digital format, hot linking all ads directly to their own web site.

We began our 2022 season with 180 campground members and close to 50 business members. Membership and
Camping Guide ad sales were strong this year both are very important to our parks.

MECOA recently had a technical audit done on CampMaine.com. The recommendations for improved
performance/appearance of the site are being reviewed for updates and or a complete re-do of the site.

MECOA is making plans for its 18 Annual Vacationland RV & Camping Show April 2-3, 2022 at the Norway
th
Savings Bank Arena in Auburn Maine. The show is nearly sold out, so if anyone is interested in attending our
show send us an email for the information. We have 5 RV dealers attending and many campgrounds from Maine
and New Hampshire along with other industry related businesses. We have an extremely broad TV/Streaming
and Radio ad campaign ready to launch 12 days prior to the show. The ad campaign will cover the entire state of
Maine and parts of New Hampshire. In conjunction with our RV show, MECOA will also be hosting its Annual
meeting of the association and trade show for its members on April 1, 2022 at the same location. All our
sponsorship opportunities have been filled, 25 Vendors will be attending, 3 educational seminars planned and a
membership lunch ending the day with a great social hour. All signs are pointing to two great shows – two shows
MECOA has missed for the last two years. It will be nice to have these events back – we think people are very
anxious to attend so we are hoping the weather cooperates for us. Wish us luck!

Show season is here – For MECOA it began with the Boston RV Show January 14-18. Attendance was down
considerably from 2020 and we can only speculate as to why. A major factor we believe was the mandatory Mask
and vaccination order put in place just a week prior to the show opening. Many booth vendors cancelled leaving
much open space. MECOA then attended the Hartford CT RV show January 28-30. But unfortunately the show
was hit with a Northeaster snow storm and closed on Saturday. Vendors were invited to come back the following
weekend but unfortunately for MECOA that just was not possible. MECOA attended the Springfield RV Show
February 18-21. This show was extremely well attended. The Maine booth saw many new to camping families
and passed out more guides than ever before at this show. It is clear people are eager to make plans for their
camping vacation. This past weekend MECOA attended the Mohegan Sun CT show. The show was steady. The
Montreal Show (one of MECOA’s best shows) was cancelled for 2022 – though MECOA had already decided
not to participate in the Canadian shows this year. So in the end the 2022 RV show season was still not a normal
show season though our expectation for the 2023 show season should be back to normal – we can only hope.
Continued on Page 18

Northeast In-Sites ~ May 2022 ~ CampNCA.org 17