Outdoor Hospitality — Published 2026-06-23 by HitchPath Editorial
Workamping has a specific origin point. In the late 1980s, a retired couple started a publication to connect RVers willing to work with campground operators who needed seasonal labor. It was a niche idea serving a small audience.
Three decades later, workamping is a recognized labor category in the outdoor hospitality industry — with specialized job boards, an active recruiting ecosystem, and thousands of campgrounds that count on workamper labor to stay staffed.
Through the 1990s and early 2000s, workamping remained a retiree phenomenon. The typical workamper was a couple in their 60s with a pension or Social Security income, looking to reduce living costs and stay active. The arrangements were informal — campground operators weren't running organized programs; they were offering informal deals to people who showed up and asked.
Formalization happened gradually. Workamper News, Escapees RV Club, and eventually newer platforms brought more structure to the matching process. Campgrounds that had been passive about hosting started recruiting actively. Federal agencies — the Army Corps of Engineers in particular — built organized volunteer programs with defined application windows and clear compensation structures.
The pandemic-era outdoor recreation surge accelerated everything. Campgrounds that had never prioritized workamper hiring suddenly needed to. Traditional seasonal labor disappeared. Operators who'd treated workampers as supplemental found them essential.
The term covers a wider range than it did at the start. It includes federal volunteer host positions, paid private campground employment, hybrid site-for-service arrangements, and a growing cohort of remote workers who combine their primary jobs with hosting responsibilities.
The unifying element is the exchange of some form of labor at an outdoor accommodation for compensation that includes a place to park and live.
The underlying economics make sense for both sides. For the workamper: dramatically reduced living costs, immersion in outdoor settings, meaningful work, and genuine community. For the employer: reliable, motivated, personally invested workers who often return for multiple seasons.
As long as those economics hold, workamping keeps drawing participants.