FRVTA Says Florida’s Regional RV Shows are a ‘Mixed Bag’ – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
RIVERVIEW, Fla. – The Florida RV Trade Association (FRVTA) just completed the third of five regional shows held around the state, and the attendance numbers have been mixed, according to a release.
The Fort Myers RV Show celebrated its 39th year of providing residents of Southwest Florida with the finest in RV selections. This year’s event featured 10 dealers from all along the Gulf Coast displaying the latest and greatest recreation vehicles ranging from luxury Class A motorhomes to affordable folding camping trailers.
The show also offered attendees items guaranteed to make their outdoor adventure the best ever. The show moved to a new venue this year after 38 years at the Lee County Civic Center.
“The location at JetBlue Park was excellent but it will take some time to get people used to the new location,” said FRVTA Show Coordinator Tammy Lull.
Many sales were registered by both dealers and vendors alike, as attendance was just under 6,700 people over the four days of the show. The new location and unseasonable weather contributed to the drop in attendance.
Next up was the Jacksonville RV MegaShow, held again at the Jacksonville Equestrian Center. The show marked the 15th year the show was held at the Equestrian Center. Over 7,700 people attended the show over the 4 beautiful weather days of the show. This was up over 300 people from last year’s show.
“Our members really like this venue,” Said Greg Stachacz, FRVTA Region 6 President. “Also the public has gotten used to coming to our shows here so we see this as a long term location for our shows.”
The most recent regional show, the West Palm Beach RV Show, was held Feb. 15-18 at the South Florida Fairgrounds. Horrible weather on both Saturday and Sunday hurt the show held entirely outdoors. The show still drew over 3,200 people and the participating dealers were, for the most part, happy with the results.
“It’s not so much about how many come to the show, it’s more about buyers attending,” said state chairman of the board Brian Copley. “With the weather issues I think we still did pretty good.”
The FRVTA will hold two shows in the coming weeks to wrap up a busy winter show season. The Ocala RV Show will be held Feb. 29-March 3 and the new Orlando RV Show will be held March 14-17. Updates from those shows will be coming next month.
For more information contact the FRVTA at 813-741-0488 or www.frvta.org.
