The RV Industry has a lot of weight to throw around. During this week’s “RVs Move America Week” event in Washington, D.C., the RV Industry Association (RVIA) presented a comprehensive, state-by-state report on the RV industry’s economic impact on the U.S.
The report said the RV industry now has an overall annual economic impact to the U.S. economy of $140 billion. The report said the industry supports nearly 680,000 jobs with more than $48 billion in wages.
Thanks to the boom in interest in RVing, that’s a 23% increase in economic output in just the past three years.
The $140 billion total annual RV industry economic impact includes:
- $73.7 billion generated by RV manufacturers and suppliers.
- $35.7 billion by RV campgrounds and related travel.
- $30.5 billion by RV sales and service activities.
The report also said the RV industry pays $13.6 billion each year in federal, state, and local taxes.
“Every resident in America benefits from the substantial tax revenue brought in by the RV industry,” reported Craig Kirby, President and CEO of RVIA. “Taxes that fund roads, bridges, education, and the parks and recreation areas our customers visit.”
The RVs Move America Economic Impact Study includes all companies involved in the manufacture, sale, rental, repair, storage, and service of RVs, as well as in the aftermarket industry, financing, and insurance of RV purchases. The economic impact of campgrounds and trip spending during RV travel is also captured in the report.
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This valuable needs to be kept in the back pocket of anyone talking to various governments (federal, state, and local). There are a lot of forces trying to end camping and RV’ing in many areas–from federal public land closures (BLM, National Forest, etc.) to local communities who dislike RV traffic and RV parks in their local neighborhoods. While camping demand is up, there are horror stories of people trying to build RV campgrounds and being stonewalled in places. (Some of it is just the usual local politics and zoning wars.) Some levels are criminalizing vehicle residency, which normally just seems to apply to “homeless people forced into their cars” but actually impacts or could impact full-time RVers, either directly or through unintentional ripple-out effects. If governments, businesses, localities, etc. were reminded of RVers’ contributions regularly, they might be more open to inclusion.
$139 billion just repairing the junk the manufacturers are spitting out.