Glamping has become one of Greene County’s quieter growth industries. Over the past decade, independent owners have opened tiny-house resorts, cabin retreats, eco-camps and tented sites across the county, building a new lodging category from the ground up.
It’s the latest chapter in Greene County’s lodging legacy. The Catskill Mountain House opened on the Escarpment’s edge in 1824. It became a favorite subject of Hudson River School painters, including Thomas Cole, and hosted three U.S. presidents, Ulysses S. Grant, Chester A. Arthur and Theodore Roosevelt. Family-run resorts, many still operated today by third- and fourth-generation owners, further established the Catskills as a family vacation destination. Glamping follows the same pattern—local investment, local jobs and a new kind of visitor.
A growing category
The appeal is simple. The great outdoors with the comforts of a real bed, sometimes even heat, and often a private bath. That brings in first-timers and older travelers who would never pitch a tent.
The hotel industry has taken notice. In October, the Greene County Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting at Postcard Cabins Eastern Catskills, a 56-cabin property in Catskill that now books through Marriott Bonvoy following Marriott’s acquisition of the Postcard brand. When one of the world’s largest hotel companies puts its name on a lodging category, it’s a sign the category has arrived.
Greene County got there early
In 2017, the Cairo Planning Board approved A Tiny House Resort on 28 acres along the Catskill Creek, one of the first properties of its kind in the region. Others followed: Gather Greene‘s cabins in Coxsackie, Piaule‘s modern luxury cabins outside Catskill, Eastwind‘s A-frames in Windham, eco-camping experiences at Wild Hudson Valley in Cairo, and airstreams, cabins and glamping tents at Treetopia in Catskill.Nearly all are independently owned, and several started small and expanded as demand grew.
Greene County saw it coming. In May 2019, the county’s Positively Greene newsletter flagged glamping as a trend creating”a whole new generation of Greene County tourists.”
What it means for the local economy
Lodging is Greene County’s largest category of visitor spending. According to Tourism Economics, visitors spent $335 million in the county in 2025, including $132.4 million on lodging. Lodging spending rose about 6% from 2024, slightly faster than visitor spending overall. All told, visitors generated $17.7 million in county tax revenue and supported $121.4 million in local employment income.
The report doesn’t separate glamping from other lodging, but glamping guests spend well beyond their campsites. KOA found that glampers are among the highest-spending outdoor travelers, at about $251 a day. With most cabins offering little more than a kitchenette, guests eat, shop and buy groceries in town. A Hipcamp-commissioned study found restaurants were campers’ top local expense. And because heated cabins draw visitors well past summer, that spending continues year-round.
For entrepreneurs, Greene County offers what outdoor hospitality needs—open land, nature-immersive settings, county-wide fiber broadband, and easy access from New York City and the Capital Region.
(Image at top of page: Eastwind Scandinavian-style Lushna cabin in Windham)
If you want to learn more about how to Make It In Greene, check out our free helpful business guides and contact the Invest In Greene team by email or phone at 518-719-3290.
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Topics: Success Stories
