With Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s already upon us, the RV industry wants to know just what it means for them. Holiday RVing—will it be a road trip, or a driveway use?
Industry surveys RVers for answers
The RV Industry Association has released its own findings, based on their Holiday Travel Intentions Survey. Topping the list of statistics, 20 million are planning to go RVing this holiday season, a 30% increase over 2022.
Coming up in a few days, 55% of RVers plan to take a trip this Thanksgiving. They’ll travel within three hours of home, giving them less time on the road and more time for friends and family. How do age groups break? Millennials are more likely to stay closer to home, with 61% planning a trip within 3 hours, while 43% of Boomer respondents said they are planning trips more than 16 hours from home.
With holiday RVing, not all RVers will hit the road. 56% of those planning to use an RV this holiday season will park it at home and use it for guest accommodations. 49% will use it as an extra kitchen for food prep and storage. Although it’s hard to imagine a family-sized turkey in the typical RV oven.
Holiday RVing—Why do they do it?
Why do RVers do their RV thing? The top reasons, says the survey, is that the love of road trips and the desire to travel in comfort. Add to these, interest in exploring the great outdoors, and the affordability of RV travel all figure in. The industry touts that RV vacations cost 50% less than comparable hotel and plane ride trips, and a third less than hotel and car ride trips. Be sure to factor in the cost of the rig, maintenance, interest payments, insurance, and storage payments. Your results may vary.
Pets also factor into the RV lifestyle. 60% of RVers are planning to bring their pets with them rather than boarding them over the holidays. Of those sharing the trip with their furry family members, 87% will travel with at least one dog and 52% will travel with at least one cat.
Related:
##RVT1131b
Nice little statisitical report, thanks for sharing it!
I never believe anything the RVIA mass marketing machine pumps out. Very hard to believe that 55% of RVers will be out next week. Even in summer on holiday weekends RV storage lots are still jam packed with unused RVs. A lot depends on survey wording, who is surveyed, and lastly how the data is manipulated and the spin marketers put on it. From what I’ve seen, RVIA, Camping World, and KOA are master spin doctors.
Thank you, Russ and Tina! We sorta are traveling for Thanksgiving. That is, DW is driving about 70 miles (140 miles round trip) to bring her parents to our house for Thanksgiving. They don’t need to drive to our house, given their ages and health problems. We’ll host them for a few days and then take them home. Our RV will stay parked in our RV barn the whole time. Safe travels and happy Thanksgiving!