Hotels shoot for an average occupancy rate of between 60 and 65 percent, although this year the rates are projected to be lower than average at around 59 percent.
Hotel operators are there to make money, of course, and most answer to.
State campgrounds, paid for by us, don’t seem to have such standards. Nor do they ever have to answer to us.
We have already heard that our state parks are a wreck and have no money although we doubt it and our research weakens such a statement.
An attached report finds that the average occupancy rate for 2008 at state campgrounds was 54 percent, which we don’t find all that appalling. In 2007, the rate was 55 percent. But there are some parks that perform and some that don’t. Indian Lake campground in the U.P. is on the lower end, with an average occupancy of 24 percent for last summer season. State leaders find it OK, though, to spend $875,000 on upgrades to the park starting in September. William Mitchell Park in Cadillac, occupancy rate 62 percent, is getting $2 million for some work.
These campgrounds are valuable tools and create a higher quality of life for us. In times of road commissions and transportation departments that can't figure out how to keep our roads in decent condition, anything that can elevate our lifestyle standard is welcome.
Campground image by Flickr user CaptPiper CC 2.0
Campground Vacancy Rates 2008
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A lot of these parks are really gorgeous, too. Are they the best place to be dropping millions of fresh dollars a year in a time of multi-billion dollar budget deficits?
ReplyDeleteWell, they're probably a better place to spend the money than on a four-sided triangle in downtown Lansing...
--Nick
www.RightMichigan.com
might be prudent to hold off on these upgrades to the campgrounds until things like roads are a little more civilized.
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