2018 Tampa SuperShow Sets Precedence
All In Attendance, Whether It's The Vendors Or Consumers, Enjoy The Show For Its Major Influence, Selection & Networking Among The RVing And Nomadic Community
Despite a cold snap, the 2018 Florida RV SuperShow, held in Tampa at the State Fairgrounds January 17 through 21, set new records for attendance. Bright sunshine and dry weather brought out record crowds, with more than 73,000 people attending the five day event. And a lot of them were there to buy an RV, say industry organizers.
Ken Loyd, manning the Flamingo Lake RV Resort booth for his fifth year, was surprised by the steady flow of interested people coming by. “Usually we are overwhelmed by the crowd,” he said. “But this time there was just a real steady flow. I found out later that was because so many more people than usual were shopping for an RV.” Flamingo Lake, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, came to the show to let folks know about its 60 new sites, added this winter.
Ken, who is assistant general manager and marketing director for the resort in Jacksonville, Florida, felt this year’s show was about perfect. “We gave out all the freebies we brought along, didn’t take anything home but our displays.”
“We experienced the perfect storm of pent up demand, record stock market levels, low interest rates, stable gas prices and five beautiful days of weather,” said David Kelly, marketing director of the Florida Supershow, this year celebrating its 33rd year. “We feel that the SuperShow reflects the attitudes of the RV consumers nationwide as so many attendees come from all over the country. If the SuperShow is any indication, the industry is on pace to set more records again this year.”
Kelly said that the show added a new seminar this year, specifically aimed at the questions that people who have never owned an RV need answered. RVing 101-Everything You Need to Know, presented by RV writer Bob Marx, proved a real draw. “After the first day, we had to add more chairs to the seminar area to meet the demand,” Kelly said.
“I think this was our best SuperShow ever,” said Bryan Melton, manager of Airstream’s travel trailer division. “We always look forward to the Tampa show to kick off the new year and introduce our new designs to consumers. We had the president of Airstream, Bob Wheeler, present at the show, as well as a lot of our top brass. This is a big deal for us.”
Melton said that among the new models showcased at the SuperShow were Airstream’s Globetrotter trailer, featuring a sleek European design, and the new Atlas touring coach, a motorhome built on a Mercedes-Benz chassis. “They were very well received,” he said. “Consumer confidence is great right now. And we love to have our previous customers come by to say hello.”
Winnebago spokesman Sam Jefson praised the Tampa SuperShow as an excellent opportunity to showcase the company’s latest models. “We brought our new Horizon diesel model, which won the RVBusiness RV of the Year award for 2018, as well as the RV Pro Best of Show award,” Jefson said. “It’s an amazing motorhome for under $400,000, very sleek inside, like a London flat or a New York City loft. Another popular model was our new Mini Plus, a towable 5th wheel which can be pulled by a half-ton truck. But the one that caused the most buzz was our new Revel Class B 4X4 on a Mercedes-Benz chassis. It’s unlike anything we’ve made before, a true off-road RV.”
Frank Konigseder, vice president of Liberty Coach, said his family owned business has been exhibiting at the Florida SuperShow for 25 years. He sees it as an ideal opportunity to open consumers’ eyes to what his company does. “We’ve been doing interior conversions of coaches for 50 years,” he said. “What’s surprising is that a lot of people in the RV world don’t even know what a coach conversion is. We love the SuperShow because it brings in past customers, as well as new prospects.”
While the industry reps spent five days manning their exhibit areas, show attendees enjoyed browsing the thousands of RVs on display, collecting freebies and camping offers at the hundreds of booths, and entering contests. Strolling musicians and other performers provided a constant stream of entertainment. Among the most entertaining sights were the hundreds of RV dogs attending with their owners. Many of the canines sported special costumes, or traveled through the show in carts and covered wagons.
“I’ve never seen so many dogs in strollers,” joked John Pierce, who manages the Hurricane, Axis and Gemini lines for Thor Motor Coach. “Seriously though this was one of the best shows we’ve ever attended. People were out, shopping for motorhomes, including lots of first time buyers. We had every size of coach on display from 23 feet to 45 feet, plus our diesel models. And our design team was on site, listening to people, taking notes, and planning on how to make our next models even better.”
Wendy and Dale Gould, who share their travels in their truck camper on the Wandering WenDal Facebook page, were among the crowd. “We saw lots of cool stuff and some amazing RVs,” they told The Buzz. “Some were way out of our price range but we saw some very nice truck campers as well. But we're not ready to get rid of WenDal just yet. We got some great deals for camping for the next month or so and if we win even one of the contests we entered we will be way under budget. One of the neat things is that we could camp overnight right in the parking area for $20. Not a bad deal.”
The SuperShow was pretty impressive, both in deals and in size, the couple said. “They claim to be the largest RV show in the country and I don't doubt it. The crowd was larger than at Disney!”
Next year’s Florida RV SuperShow is scheduled for January 16-20, 2019.
Renee Wright
A graduate of Franconia College in Social Psychology, Renee has worked as Travel Editor for Charlotte Magazine and has written three travel guidebooks for Countryman Press among other writing assignments. She enjoys food and camping.
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