Tampa Bay’s Next

“Every foreclosure is a camping opportunity. We expect Florida to produce more active campers then any state in the union over the next few years” said Greater Tampa Bay Chamber Partnership VP Sarah Brown at the 2010 economic forecast meeting.

“We already have seen a spike in sales at camp grounds and in camping equipment. The continuing wave of foreclosures will only increase this growth to make it the number one industry in Tampa Bay by the middle of 2010.” Investment in camping is investing in Florida’s burgeoning green economy as living in a tent is so more eco-friendly and eco-cool then living in a house.”

The US Green Building Council affirmed that living in tents was not LEED certified or a goal of the organization though suggested Earth First might support that goal.

The camping industry already employs a few hundred people in the Tampa Bay area, and is expected to swell and employ as many as 600 by the end of 2010 helping to stem the tide of 50,000+ jobs to be lost during the same forecasted period.

The Greater Tampa Bay Chamber Partnership is lobbying now for federal and state funds for their “Green Camping Future Study”. They seek $400,000 to study strategies to best develop our camping industry. They expect to spend 2 years studying the issue with a final report due some time in 2014.