Camps Newfound/Owatonna, Inc. v. Town of Harrison, 520 U.S. 564, 10 (1997)

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Cite as: 520 U. S. 564 (1997)

Opinion of the Court

17-18. Even though petitioner's camp does not make a profit, it is unquestionably engaged in commerce, not only as a purchaser, see Katzenbach v. McClung, 379 U. S. 294, 300- 301 (1964); United States v. Lopez, 514 U. S. 549, 558 (1995), but also as a provider of goods and services. It markets those services, together with an opportunity to enjoy the natural beauty of an inland lake in Maine, to campers who are attracted to its facility from all parts of the Nation. The record reflects that petitioner "advertises for campers in [out-of-state] periodicals . . . and sends its Executive Director annually on camper recruiting trips across the country." App. 49-50. Petitioner's efforts are quite successful; 95 percent of its campers come from out of State. The attendance of these campers necessarily generates the transportation of persons across state lines that has long been recognized as a form of "commerce." Edwards v. California, 314 U. S. 160, 172 (1941); see also Caminetti v. United States, 242 U. S. 470, 491 (1917); Hoke v. United States, 227 U. S. 308, 320 (1913).

Summer camps are comparable to hotels that offer their guests goods and services that are consumed locally. In Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States, 379 U. S. 241 (1964), we recognized that interstate commerce is substantially affected by the activities of a hotel that "solicits patronage from outside the State of Georgia through various national advertising media, including magazines of national circulation." Id., at 243. In that case, we held that commerce was substantially affected by private race discrimination that limited access to the hotel and thereby impeded interstate commerce in the form of travel. Id., at 244, 258; see Lopez, 514 U. S., at 558-559. Official discrimination that limits the access of nonresidents to summer camps creates a similar impediment. Even when business activities are purely local, if " 'it is interstate commerce that feels the pinch, it does not matter how local the operation which applies the squeeze.' " Heart of Atlanta, 379 U. S., at 258

573

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