- RVshare, a peer-to-peer RV sharing platform with over 100,000 RVs, released its 2020 trend report earlier this year.
- Ginnie Springs in northern Florida — which is gaining Instagram fame for its clear waters and jungle-like flora — was forecasted to be the RV hot spot of 2020.
- As the coronavirus reinvents travel, RV companies are seeing an influx of customers and Ginnie Springs has been operating at maximum capacity since it re-opened on May 1.
- Business Insider spoke to RVshare CEO Jon Gray in November about why RV rentals are trending and where clients are traveling to.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Plenty of people will fondly remember visiting Yellowstone National Park in an RV with mom and dad as the classic American vacation of yesteryear.
But now, travelers are looking for more transformative, unexpected vacation destinations, even if they're driving there in a recreational vehicle.
Business Insider spoke to Jon Gray, the CEO of RVshare, a peer-to-peer RV sharing platform, about current RV trends following the release of the company's 2020 travel report in November.
"We've been asking our customers 'where are you headed?' and obviously Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon are standout destinations, but Ginnie Springs kept coming up," said Gray, "and I had never heard of it."
While the coronavirus pandemic continues to change travel expectations and desires, Ginnie Springs continues to be on the up-and-up. It reopened on May 1. Demand was so high that, local ABC news affiliate reported, Ginnie Springs had to start turning away visitors by 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 16. Another, First Coast News, reported that it was packed over Memorial Day weekend.
The park asks for visiting groups to be smaller than 10 people. It also asks that visitors practice social distancing.
Below, take a look inside the destination RV-ers are loving right now.
Note: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) website notes that travel increases your chances of getting and spreading COVID-19. "Before you travel, learn if coronavirus is spreading in your local area or in any of the places you are going," it reads.
Ginnie Springs is a camping site just northwest of Gainesville, Florida, with seven natural springs.
The springs' crystal clear water makes for ideal diving, kayaking, paddleboarding, and tubing — but it's also becoming a big destination for RV tourists, Jon Gray, CEO of RVshare, told Business Insider.
Gray said that today's travelers "want something that's off the beaten track." He attributes that to the desire to stand out on social media.
Gray thinks people are specifically picking travel destinations based on photo opportunities but doesn't see that as a negative: "One of the upsides of the Instagramming of travel is that people try new things – they don't want to do things that are seen as touristy."
Ginnie Springs does seem to be attracting quite a bit of attention on social media; unsurprisingly, most of the most-liked shots with the #ginniesprings hashtag capitalize on the area's gorgeous colors.
Ginnie Springs even has its own Instagram account, which has some 67,000 followers.
Gray said Ginnie Springs is such a popular destination for his clients because, beyond its Instagrammable blues, it taps into a desire to reconnect with nature.
"The US has become more urban," Gray told Business Insider. "People are working in an office all day long and wanting to do something different. The desire to get into nature is there – this idea of disconnecting to reconnect."
The private campsite is open all year long.
It's an accessible destination regardless of the season: the springs stay at 72 degrees year-round.
Camping prices start at $22 per person. Access to the springs starts at $14 per day. Diving access starts at $22 per day.
And the campsites are also RV-friendly: Ginnie Springs' tent and RV sites are spread out over 200 acres, and the RV sites have power and water hookups.
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