The latest styles, innovations and technology packed into RVs are on display Thursday through Sunday at the Inland Northwest RV Show and Sale at the Spokane (Ore.) County Fair and Expo Center.
From 45-foot motor homes to basic pop-up tent campers, over 300 RVs pack into 10 buildings at the fairgrounds and parked outside for the 29th annual show, The Spokesman-Review reports.
Six dealers are displaying discounted models across 170,000 square feet of indoor space. Around 13,000 people are expected to attend, and those who buy will spend roughly $10 million for around 150 RVs, organizers say.
“This is a selling show,” said Steve Cody, the show producer. “And that’s because the deals are so good.”
The RV market in the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene region has been strong for decades and keeps growing, industry representatives say.
“The Inland Northwest is one of the largest RV markets in the country,” Keith Woodruff with RnR RV Center said. “We sell more RVs in Spokane County than a lot of the United States, because we have so much camping available around the region.”
Buyers are getting younger, too.
“More people in their mid-20s are getting into the RV lifestyle, and they become a lifetime customer at that point,” Woodruff said. “They have an additional 45, 50 years of RVing ahead of them if they’re 25.”
That’s quite a contrast from when the show began in the late 1980s. “When we started everyone was 50 or 60 or 70,” Cody said.
The younger buyers usually start out with a tent camper or modest travel trailer, then upgrade over the years, Woodruff said.
Fluctuating gas prices and the cost of air travel and hotels also influences RV sales. The industry has benefited from times when the economy puts a damper on overseas vacations.
“It’s a great way to travel and see the United States, and more people are staying at home rather than traveling abroad,” Woodruff said.