2021 Florida RV Supershow Successful for Exhibitors
RIVERVIEW, Fla. — The Florida RV Trade Association (FRVTA) opened the 36th Annual 2021 Florida RV SuperShow, Wednesday, January 13 to big crowds and they kept coming right through the end of the show on Sunday. While overall attendance was off about 25% over last year’s record, exhibitors reported sales as good if not better than past shows. “I think the causal shopper decided to stay home this year, but the people that came to the show, came to do business,” said Dave Kelly , FRVTA Executive Director. “Also, with so many RVs sold in the past year, we had a lot of people coming to shop all the parts and accessories that were here.” The attendance was just over 60,000 for the 4 public days of the show.
“The show went absolutely fantastic,” said Phil Sarvari, president and CEO of Gulf Stream Coach Inc., Nappanee, Ind. told RV Business. “People were really upbeat and eager to get product. It was amazing to me how cognizant the customers were relative to the shortage of inventory and their sense of urgency to purchase units.”
Also surprising to Sarvari was the number of people who were new to the market, “and that goes from entry level all the way up to motorized – just a lot of first-time buyers,” he said.
The widespread demographic of those buyers also was notable. “Everyone from families to retired people, soon-to-retire people, professionals, absolutely all age groups,” he said.
Likewise, Alliance RV Co-founder Coley Brady, “I was there bell to bell,” he said. “Traffic was really down. Traffic wasn’t as good as previous years, but there was still plenty of great activity for us. We sold more than we did last year. We had more product on display this year, too. Last year we had four units there. This year we had 11 and we did significantly more business than we did last year, so it was good – very good,” Brady stated to RV Business.
Part of the increase was due to Alliance displaying its new toy hauler, the Valor, but business overall was on the upswing. “We had all sorts of activity across the board,” Brady said. “We’re pumped and excited and we’ve got a lot of work to do this week as a follow-up. The show was great for us.”
The theme of the 2021 Florida RV SuperShow was “Good Clean Fun!” The phase is perfect for the RV Industry as there is no safer way to travel the country than in your own home on wheels. It also speaks to the precautions that the Florida RV Trade Association has taken to provide a clean environment at the show. In addition to other precautions, FRVTA did temperature checks of all attendees at the gates, masks were required inside the buildings and RVs, more sanitizer and hand washing stations were provided and urging social distancing. “RVers are the most considerate, friendly people in the world and that showed in how much they all respected each other yesterday,” Kelly said. With hundreds of RVs on display and educational seminars, the SuperShow is the place to trade-in your old RV or get all the information you need to get acquainted with the RV lifestyle. And some of Florida’s finest campgrounds and resorts will have booth exhibits to show attendees the best camping opportunities found anywhere. Also a huge display of camping accessories and supplies will be found.
A favorite of all visitors to the SuperShow is the FREE entertainment. From clowns and unicycle riders to Barbershop Quartets, the SuperShow has enough entertainment to keep everyone busy the entire day. And take advantage of the FREE shuttle service inside the SuperShow that will carry visitors from exhibit to exhibit.
The Super Rally celebrated its 34th year at the SuperShow. This RV rally is opened to any and all RV clubs and the general public and includes a number of amenities including FREE admission to the SuperShow all five public days, meeting facilities for your club and FREE coffee and donuts every morning and seminars.
Admission to the SuperShow was only $12.00 for adults and that includes a second day admission for the cost of one day and children under 16 are FREE. The SuperShow hours are Wednesday – Saturday 9am – 6pm and Sunday 9am – 5pm. Wednesday-Friday Senior Citizens get $2.00 off the cost of admission (not valid with other discounts).
For more information on the 2022 Florida RV SuperShow contact the Florida RV Trade Association at 10510 Gibsonton Drive, Riverview, Florida 33578, (813) 741-0488, or visit our website at www.frvta.org.
