The Irresistible Call of the Not – So – Wild

At Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park campgrounds in Luray Valley, an outdoor cooking pavilion is transformed into a dance floor most Saturday nights, where teenagers bump and grind to the latest top 40 hits. Hayrides and cartoons are offered for the younger set, and Yogi himself is often on hand to press the flesh.

Half a dozen miles away, in Shenandoah National Park, it is another kind of camping experience. Back country campers hike deep into the wilderness where hey eat side-by-side with white-tail deer and hope Yogi’s real life brethren (= брат) don’t pay them a visit when they turn in for the night.

In such diverse ways, camping is growing. The number of people staying in tents or camping in the back country in national parks rose to 10.2 million last year according to Interior Department.

You can pitch your tent at about three million campsites in tens of thousands of campgrounds in the USA. Many of those campgrounds also accommodate recreational vehicles and trailers. About 60 percent of the campgrounds are operated by states, counties or the Federal Government, Through the Interior Department the rest are run by small, privately owned companies and a few associations.

Although it is difficult to estimate just how well the camping industry is doing, because most companies are privately held, all the signs sociologically and demographically in the USA point to an increasing boom in the camping industry boom.

In 1989 Leisure Systems was acquired by the Great American Broadcasting Corporation. Since then Yellystone has been expanding its campground.

Yellystone campgrounds, which pay Hanna-Barbara Production Inc., a licensing fee to use Yogi Bear’s likeness offers a host of attractions beyond the campsite, picnic table and grill. Most of campgrounds feature miniature golf, swimming pools and game rooms. “We are really emphasizing the amenities (= удобства), because that’s what brings the people back to the park” said Jennifer Vandekerchove, marketing and retailing manager for leisure systems. On the other hand, different companies offer campsites that are reliable, clean, good places to stay when you are traveling someplace else. But recently 30–year-old companies have been fighting hard to change the image by offering more activities and facilities. KOA’S (= campgrounds of America) Chugwater, Wyo campground, for example, have access to 75, 000 acre cattle ranch. In Newcastle, Colo., the campground is a trout stream. In Okeechobee Fla., KOA’S campgrounds are near a golf course. The campground at Fiesta, Fla. has a pub and discotheque.

Дата добавления: 2015-03-31