By Ed Offley
As the 2024 tourist season opens this month, vacationers will find a totally new way to visit Panama City Beach.
In addition to hotels, condominium towers and vacation rental homes, visitors to the Beach can try glamping.
Glamping?
Kristie Scofield beams with pleasure as she utters the word. “Glamping is glamorous camping.”
That is the theme of Panama City Beach KOA Holiday, the area’s newest RV Park and campground. Located at 9010 Panama City Beach Parkway just west of Chip Seal Parkway and the Publix Sports Complex, the campground is a state-of-the-art facility for campers of all types, said Scofield, its general manager.
The Beach campground is the latest in the KOA (for Kampgrounds of America) constellation of over 500 privately owned camping facilities nationwide. Campers of all types can use the facility, Scofield said. The 16-acre facility quietly opened on December 29 following ten months of construction.
The campground includes 102 RV sites with a maximum vehicle length of 65 feet and 50-amp electrical service; 9 deluxe cabins, and 4 designated tent camping sites.
The cabins include one- and two-bedroom interiors with kitchen, bath and living room.
In addition to the parking spaces that include full utilities, the campground has a full-sized swimming pool, general store and office building. Also available are a children’s playground and a Kamp9@ dog park. The entire campground offers free wi-fi for guests’ use. Some RV sites include patios and fire pits for outdoor enjoyment.
Scofield said the “Holiday” campground designation signifies that her facility offers full services to RV tourists while serving as lodging while guests explore the city’s Gulf Beachfront, other tourist amenities and restaurants.
Other KOA campgrounds include the “Journey,” which offers basic services, while the upper-end “Resort” category is intended as a destination by itself.
While many tourism sites suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic and the necessary social distancing, Scofield said camping went through a significant boom. “You could stay by yourself safely and still go outdoors,” she said.
That boom has continued in the three years following the pandemic. According to the Florida-Alabama Association of Campground Operators, 92 million American households identified themselves as campers, and 58 million of them went camping in 2022. Of that total, 6.4 million were camping for the first time.
Scofield said her industry has borrowed the famous motto from “The Field of Dreams” novel and movie. “Build it, and they will come,” she said.
While only a handful of RV vehicles were parked on the campground on a Thursday in early February, Scofield said she fully expected the park to be sold out by the time the spring tourism season officially opened on March 1.
“I’m waiting for it to fill up,” Scofield said. “We’re open and we’re ready to rock and roll.”
Information on the campground can be found at https://koa.cm/campgrounds/panama-city-beach/.
