In the past couple of years, families have taken to the water in record numbers. The same thing has happened in other industries, including recreational vehicles, better known as RVs. Mom, dad and the kids wanting to get away in a motorhome or towing a camping trailer to a remote location has resulted in record sales. 

To take a closer look at the similarities and differences between boating and RVing, Soundings Trade Only talked with Craig Kirby, president/CEO of the RV Industry Association, which has offices in Elkhart, Ind., and Washington, D.C. 

Hanna Tor - Stock.adobe.com

An avid outdoorsman, Kirby, 61, calls Virginia home. He and his wife, Lori, enjoy kayaking, hiking and visiting national parks. They recently rescued a dog they had been fostering. “We’re lousy fosterers, and we wound up adopting the Lab-pit mix that we named Nahla,” Kirby says. “Nahla went on her first RV trip this past fall, and now she’s hooked on the lifestyle.” 

A 29-year veteran of the RV industry, Kirby took the helm of the RVIA when Frank Hugelmeyer left the organization to become president of the National Marine Manufacturers Association in 2019.

How are the marine and RV industries similar?

We have a lot of the same members. Many suppliers provide components for the marine and RV industries. We have some manufacturers who are active in the marine segment. We also have similar visions in outdoor recreation and policy issues and wanting to make sure that people have access to the outdoors.

Tomasz Zajda-Stock.adobe.com

Did you have the same spike in sales during the pandemic that marine saw?

Yes, we did, as a matter of fact. So many people who had never considered RVing were all of a sudden interested because it was the freedom to go where you want, when you want, and control your environment. You could recreate with family and friends safely. I obviously saw this on an industry level, but even on a personal level, I had so many people contacting me to see about getting a unit.

What kind of numbers are we talking about?

We had more than 600,000 shipments, which was a huge spike in interest and a record-breaking year for the industry. The RV industry also had a $140 billion overall economic impact on the U.S. economy.

Hero Campers

Did the RV industry’s demographics change, as well?

It’s been a priority to get a more diverse consumer involved in the RV lifestyle. Go RVing, our marketing arm, has done a terrific job reaching out to diverse audiences, making sure they see themselves in our ads. An example of this is that the median age of an RV owner was 53, but in 2020, the average age of a new buyer dropped to 41 years old. We did the same survey again in 2021, and the median age dropped to 33 years old. And we had even more diverse buyers, as well.

What is the history of RV ownership in this country?

Our RV owner demographic profile, released in 2021, found that RV ownership has increased over 62% in the last 20 years with a record of 11.2 million RV owning households, split almost equally between those over and under the age of 55. We also saw significant growth among 18- to 34-year-olds, who now make up 22% of the market. Additionally, 9.6 million households intend to buy an RV within the next five years. Among current RV owners who plan to buy another RV in the next five years, the numbers of millenials and Generation Zers stand out, with 84% of 18- to 34-year-olds planning to buy another RV and 78% preferring to buy a new model.

Where has the RV industry seen its biggest growth?

Van campers (class B motorhomes) have become quite popular. The numbers aren’t large, but as far as growth percentage, it’s really taking off. One of the things that we’re fortunate with in our industry is that there’s an RV for every purchase point. You can spend $5,000 for a popup camper up to several hundred thousand for a high-end motorhome. About 88% of RVs sold are towables and 12% are motorhomes.

Moodboard - Stock.adboe.com

One thing we’ve seen in marine is people working remotely from their boats. Is this also happening in the RV space?

According to the RVIA’s Travel Intentions Survey, 20% of leisure travelers say they have worked remotely from an RV in the last two years, and 25% plan on doing so in the year ahead. Plus, the median annual usage for current RV owners remains steady at 20 days, but people intending to buy an RV plan to use it a median of 25 days per year. This increase is indicative of the changing attitudes toward remote work and the ability for more people to be able to work from a destination more frequently than traditional vacation days afforded in the past.

With boats, it’s a little easier to identify how they’re used because many are purpose-designed. How does the RVIA identify how its products are used?

Through our comprehensive RV Owner Demographic Profile, we have identified seven clusters of RV users. “Happy Campers” make up 3% of total RVers and consist primarily of snowbirds who use their RVs as an escape for half the year from the weather. “Casual Campers” are 39% of total RVers and use their unit for a few weekends a year in warmer months. “Adventure Seekers” are explorers and enthusiasts who participate in many outdoor hobbies. They make up about 1% of RVers. “Avid RVers” make up 6% of the total, and they use their RV at every opportunity to get away. “Escapists” take advantage of the freedom their RV provides. They make up 16% of total uses, and this group includes folks who enjoy water-based activities. “Full Timers” is a self-explanatory category and makes up 1.5% of total RVers. They have adopted their RVs as their homes. “Family Campers” grew up with an RV, and they use camping to get away with the family and instill the lover for the activity in the next generation. They make up 33% of total RVers.

With so many new RVers entering the sport, has your industry launched initiatives focused on retaining them?

I look at the RV industry as a three-legged stool. Manufacturers and suppliers are one leg. Dealers are another leg, and campgrounds are the third leg. And if any of those legs breaks down, the stool is going to fall down. We’re working closely to make sure consumer expectations are exceeded.

How are you trying to achieve that?

One of the big things we’re focusing on is repair event cycle time, or RECT. We’re trying to reduce the amount of time it takes to get a unit repaired. One area of focus is recruiting and training more techs to work on the units, and that is being addressed by the RV Technical Institute, which is based in Elkhart. They are laser-focused on recruiting and training technicians. We have also formed a task force to see how we can improve the parts distribution process to shorten the repair time.

Can you provide details on this?

What we’re seeing is that one part may have multiple part numbers because each manufacturer assigns a different part number than the one assigned by the supplier. So a dealer may have a part in stock it can use from a different manufacturer, but is unaware of it because of the different part numbers. If all the manufacturers used the component part suppliers’ part number, a dealer would know if it had the part in stock and could get the customer on the road faster.

Are more shared-ownership opportunities popping up for RVs?

There are RV-share organizations where people can rent an RV from an individual or a company and experience what it’s like to go RVing. I think they play a large role, and people end up liking the lifestyle and buying an RV for themselves.

What are some of the ways that people use RVs?

One of the most popular things that people use RVs for is as a base camp, and then a family can pursue its passion, whether it’s fishing, hiking or even boating. There are many people who have RVs who boat, as well.

What were the biggest challenges for your industry during the pandemic?

First, we created a workplace safety task force and brought in medical professionals and worked together to develop health protocols before employees returned to work. Then, after being closed for six to eight weeks, it was a challenge to ramp up production.

The marine industry is seeing the pandemic sales spike drop off to more normal levels. Is this happening in the RV segment, as well?

The first half of 2022, sales were very strong, and in the second half, they normalized to prepandemic levels. We still finished with a little under 500,000 units, and that was the third best year ever, and we’re expecting next year to be just under 400,000 units. That’s phenomenal considering the war in Europe, supply-chain issues, inflation and rising interest rates.

Did RVs play any unexpected roles during the pandemic?

The industry stepped up and produced and donated personal protective equipment, and many manufacturers donated units to be used by health professionals.

Did the RV business have the same supply-chain issues as boating did during the pandemic?

I like to say it was like a game of Whac-A-Mole. As soon as you got one issue fixed, another one popped up. We’ve got windows today, but we’re still missing foam and something else the next day. We still see chassis and chip shortages.

Are electrification and connectivity becoming more important at campgrounds?

We’re starting to see concept electric vehicles. In Washington, the Inflation Reduction Act is trying to improve the infrastructure for electric, and one of things we got concerned about is where we see electric pedestals located. With many, you pull straight in with a charger at the front by the hood, and that doesn’t work so well for our product because so many RVs are trailers, so we want to see pull-through sites set up. We’ve worked as an industry to develop what a pull-through site will look like, and we’re lobbying at the state level to get pull-through sites developed to make it easier for our customers to travel.

Do you think campgrounds will make the investment to support additional electrification?

We’re on the road, and we need to make sure there are enough charging stations to get to the campground. Additionally, in our situation, you may need a charger for the tow vehicle and for the trailer itself. We’re working with the campground industry and with Capitol Hill to make sure campgrounds are in the mix as far as grants are concerned and trying to get this infrastructure in place.

The marine industry has seen a steady rise in dayboating and boats designed for shorter outings. Have there been changes in how RVs are used?

A change we’ve seen recently in usage is more people going “boondocking.” They don’t go to a campground — instead, they head for a more remote area. The unit is more self-contained and may have solar charging and batteries, water filtration and heavier-duty tires.

Are there initiatives to make RVs easier to drive while keeping them affordable?

There really is a product in every price point for consumers and all sorts of different sizes of RVs based on the comfort of the RVer. While entry-level trailers are the most popular RVs, typically we see owners replace smaller units with bigger ones as they continue to go RVing. In the automotive industry, you used to see the safety equipment available on more expensive models and only available as options. Now we’re starting to see those options standard on more affordable vehicles, and we’re seeing that in the RV industry, as well. We are also focusing on helping the customer learn how to use their unit. Go RVing has created a first-timers toolkit that includes nearly 100 videos and articles to show new RVers how to use their RVs.

The marine industry has also seen increased demand for connectivity, with more people working from home and educating kids remotely. Are you seeing that in RVs?

What we’ve seen of late is more home-schooling and more remote work, building in offices and having improved internet availability because people want to work remotely. Our manufacturers have already responded to these changes in use.

Is the RV industry focusing more on sustainability?

Sustainability is an issue that we’re talking about a lot internally right now, and many of our member companies are focused on sustainability. Thor and Winnebago Industries have introduced electric RV concept vehicles, and many of our member companies put out sustainability reports that talk about the efforts being taken to reduce the environmental impact of our industry.

In the marine industry, Brunswick Corp. has introduced an energy system made up of lithium-ion batteries and a control unit that can replace a generator on some boats. Are you seeing this type of technology?

There’s a lot of that kind of work going on right now. Batteries are a high priority for our members. There’s a lot of research into batteries going on to see how it would fit best in RVs.

Are most RVs diesel or gas?

Almost 90% of RVs are towable, and of the 10% to 12% that are motorized, about 60% to 65% are gas. The industry is moving toward electric, but we’re not there yet, although we do know that people are beginning to use electric vehicles to tow their RVs, especially the smaller campers.

How does the RV industry’s future look?

The outlook for the RV industry is very good. Similar to the boating industry, the RV industry has brought in a much younger, more diverse customer in recent years. Customers who are looking for a way to get outdoors with family and friends, and experience the many physical and mental health benefits of living an active outdoor lifestyle. If we continue to meet the needs of these customers, the long-term future of the RV industry is bright.

And looking more short term and addressing the challenging economic environment, we know that RVing is an affordable travel option. For a family of four that owns an RV, it’s 30% less expensive than a comparable car/hotel vacation. For a car/hotel/airplane vacation, it’s 50% less. Who doesn’t want to be outdoors with family and friends making lifelong memories? If we do our part to help that, we should have great long-term growth. 

This article was originally published in the March 2023 issue.