When you have a sense of market trends, you can make better informed decisions and run your business more efficiently. Understanding when and how parents book camps, what types of camps and activities they are interested in, and how much your competition is charging can help increase your revenue, expand your audience, and grow your business in 2025.

Camp booking and pricing trends for 2025

Raising prices does not affect enrollment 

Inflation has continued to cause price increases across the board as businesses need to raise their prices to reflect their costs. Camp is no different. In 2024, we found that camp providers increased their prices by 23 percent when compared to 2023. And this price increase is on top of a 25 percent increase in 2022! 

Despite two years in a row of raised prices, purchase intent from parents did not change. Checkout conversion numbers remained steady year-over-year, which means parents are still as interested as ever in signing their children up for wonderful camp experiences. In 2025, expect this trend to continue, but keep in mind the past two years of large increases when you plan your pricing.

Convenience is key

We found that 42 percent of parents booked camp for their children outside of typical working hours (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) using online camp registration software. Moreover, 69 percent of parents booked camps for their children on their phone or tablet. This means that camps that rely on phone calls and emails to make bookings may miss out on this revenue. Consider using a registration software to let your customers easily book how and when they want.

Parents book camps in advance

Publishing your camp sessions in the winter is beneficial for everyone. We found that parents spend time researching camps and then make purchases at least two to four months before camp begins. In fact, many camps saw their full sessions booked up during the first few months of the year! 

When you post your camp listings early, parents can spend one to two months discovering, comparing and contrasting, and deciding before making their camp purchase. Plus, early registrations allow you to better understand demand for your camp. Enabling waitlists for sold out sessions can help you capture registration intent and expand your offerings with confidence.

Flexible payment options increase registration

When you offer flexible payment options like payment plans and buy now, pay later (BNPL), you make your camp accessible to more families. Of the 10.9 million bookings Sawyer processed in 2024, 17 percent utilized a BNPL option. Offering payment plans and options with a big ticket item like camp can increase your registration.

How to encourage millennial parents to buy

After diving into the data, it is important to take time to think about how you can use this information for planning and marketing. Who are you hoping to reach with your marketing? What are they interested in seeing to help them make a camp booking decision?

Pew Research defines millennials as anyone born between 1981 and 1996. In 2025, that means that millennials span the ages of 29 to 44. Therefore, if you are marketing your camp to parents in 2025, you are most likely talking to millennials. 

Knowing what millennial parents value and how they make purchases is vital to creating marketing assets and strategies that will persuade them to book your camp over a competitor.

What do millennial parents value?

When you create marketing assets for your camp, keep these values in mind.

  1. Lean into social media. Millennial parents are digital natives. In 2023, the University of Michigan surveyed parents to learn more about their social media use. They found that 80 percent of parents use social media to discuss parenting topics and get advice, suggestions, and tips from other parents. Drilling down more deeply, Pew Research discovered that Facebook is the most popular social media platform for parents and 33 percent of parents under 40 use Instagram. Utilizing these platforms will help you reach millennial parents where they are.
  2. Highlight experiences over things. Millennial parents report being more interested in providing experiences rather than physical items for their children. In your marketing materials, show parents what campers will do and learn at your camp so they are encouraged to sign their children up.
  3. Showcase user-generated content (UGC). According to Adweek, 47 percent of millennials say that they trust UGC whereas 25 percent say they trust brand-created content. Post customer reviews, create photo contests, and develop a strong community of loyal fans to get millennials in the door.

Recommendations for camps

Camps can increase revenue and grow in 2025 by raising prices, offering payment plans, publishing camp listings in the winter, and utilizing a camp registration software to take bookings 24/7. 

Further study of the booking trends from the past year can help camp owners make decisions, plan their timeline, and create effective marketing assets. Download the Sawyer Camp Booking Report: 2025 Trends to discover more insights to make 2025 your strongest year yet.

This article was sponsored by Sawyer. Sawyer is an all-in-one camp registration and management software that helps camp owners and children’s activity providers efficiently run their businesses so they can spend more time doing what they love. 

Lizzie is the senior manager of content marketing for Sawyer. She helps connect camp owners and educators with the resources they need so they can spend less time on administrative tasks and more time working with children. A lifelong lover of camp as both a camper and counselor, Lizzie is thrilled that she gets to spend her days helping providers discover and use Sawyer to make camp more accessible.


Periodically, the American Camp Association (ACA) makes timely and relevant information about products and services available to its members so they can make informed decisions for their camps. However, the ACA does not endorse products, services, or companies. 

The views and opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Camp Association or ACA employees.