Hi Ben
I too am in the process of opening a summer-camp and am facing many of the same issues you have mentioned. In the course of my due diligence, I have found that building a state of the art camp to hold a population of 100 campers and staff can run upwards of 20 million dollars. This does not include the cost of the land. The infrastructure alone will eat up more than half that amount. If you go more primitive it may be less. Annual maintenance and overhead should be budgeted for upward of $250,000. In the past 3 years, I have seen camps selling for as little as 1.5 million to 7 million, add to this several hundred thousand dollars for renovation and you will have a more accurate assessment of the costs.
If you contact the ACA, they can recommend professional consultants on camp development.
Allow 12 to 18 months for advance PR and marketing.
PROGRAMING: I recently met a man that is developing an international exchange camp program between the states and China. He is in the early stages of development and may be someone with which you can develop a collaborative effort.
The costs of opening a camp are substantial, and it may be advisable to take on a small staff to spear head the efforts.
I will be happy to share what I have learned to help you along the way.
Good luck
Scott Slater
wanderen_star@yahoo.com
