The following Press Release was issued this week by Terra Vista Management, who manage 3 of our member parks
 Campland on the Bay, Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort & Marina & Mission Bay RV Resort

SAN DIEGO, CA (March 16 2023) – With camping popularity steadily increasing over the last several years, Terra Vista Management, which manages three Southern California campground resorts including Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort in Newport Beach as well as Campland on the Bay and Mission Bay RV Resort in San Diego, prepares to welcome new and returning campers this spring and beyond. According to the latest research from popular camping resource, The Dyrt, more than 7.2 million Americans went camping for the first time in 2022, showing the increase in camping popularity has no signs of slowing down.
 
According to The Dyrt, there are nearly 80 million total campers in the U.S. in 2022, with 35 million Americans choosing to camp in an RV. In San Diego, after removing abandoned mobile homes for the De Anza Cleanup and Improvement project, Mission Bay RV Resort received approval to add 147 temporary campsites. These campsites will be available for booking in the summer of 2023.
 
Campers reported to The Dyrt that it was 5 times harder to find an available campsite in 2022 than it was in 2019. According to the campers surveyed:

• 35% - find most advance bookings are full
• 19.1% - are not sure where to camp
• 17.3% - feel inadequate information is available

 
Other reasons include first-come, first-served sites are full (16.4%), closures due to fire/weather (4.7%) and other (7.6%).
 
Many campers are booking in advance, according to the Dyrt survey. 60.9% book three months or more in advance, and 8.6% book at least a year in advance. ​

​Between safety protocols, fire drills, evacuation plans, and even active shooter drills, it’s common practice to prepare your business and its employees for how to navigate emergency situations. But, in these times when even a minor incident can become trending across social media in the blink of an eye, have you ever stopped to think about how you would manage the media during an emergency situation?

When a crisis occurs, before you communicate with any news or social media outlet, you first need to have a well-constructed plan. We reached out to CalOHA’s publicist, Jeff Crider who stated, “It is always a good idea to develop prepared statements involving crises of any type”. Until/unless you are fully prepared to do so, the best thing to do is to not address the media, or simply inform them that “we are not speaking on the situation at this time”. Once you have a prepared statement, it is important that you stick to it, and do not comment further. If you start answering questions and allowing media outlets to dig deeper, it is easy for things to get out of hand or to say things you may not have fully thought through or completely meant. Once something has been said, it’s nearly impossible to take it back, even if the statement was taken out of context. We would also recommend that you designate one individual to manage all media and news outlets, to lessen the chances of miscommunications occurring. 

Crider also noted that “The key in all of these situations is to act quickly”. If you are not controlling your narrative, you are opening the door for speculation and rumors often make for a better social media story than the truth.

Should you find yourself in the unfortunate situation of misinformation spreading about your park, please do not hesitate to reach out to CalOHA. We are here to assist you with circulating the corrected information.