![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6976871.1721873052!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
New RV sales trending upward ahead of camping season
Alberta remains strong when it comes to consumers purchasing new recreational vehicles (RVs) and fifth wheels for camping and other activities.
"(In) 2023, we saw a bit of a lull coming through the market. The cost of living went up, interest rates were up, the price of new RVs was up" said Travis Weaver, business manager for Arrkann RV.
"Coming into 2024, we have seen it rebound as interest rates have started to stabilize."
Weaver says Arrkann, Fraserway RV and Traveland RV are duking it out at RV Wars through the weekend, enticing folks to purchase a new RV, trailer or fifth wheel.
"We want to do this sale kind of right at the start of May. Gives people some time to get in, pick their new units up, get them home, loaded, so they can head out camping when their first trip comes around," he said.
The Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association of Canada tracks sales of new units through data gathered by Statistical Surveys Inc.
President Eleonore Hamm says last year saw a significant drop in purchases due to high inflation and a spending crunch many Canadians faced amid the affordability crisis.
In 2019, across Canada, 45,693 new units were sold.
In 2020, 44,972.
In 2021, 53,183.
In 2022, 44,004.
And in 2023, it was 34,610.
"So while we were down in 2023 by about 21 per cent (in sales), Alberta actually has always been very strong. Alberta only saw a drop of about seven per cent in 2023," Hamm said.
"It used to be obviously an older consumer that was really going camping, whereas now, the demographic, the median age of an RV purchaser is in their 40s. It's the young family.
"The focus has shifted a little bit, in terms of just being a vehicle for camping, in terms of now being a real lifestyle vehicle."
Hamm says Alberta has fared well in the RV market, and almost one in five households owns an RV.
"Fourteen per cent of Canadian households own an RV but in Alberta, it's about 20 per cent of the households, so a very strong market," Hamm said.
"And it looks like it's trending in the right direction."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6976871.1721873052!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
DEVELOPING Jasper updates: Wildfire reaches townsite
One of two wildfires threatening Jasper National Park has reached the townsite.
Alberta calls in army to assist with wildfire situation
Alberta has called in the Canadian Armed Forces to help assist with the worsening wildfire situation in the province.
Biden explains why he ended re-election bid in Oval Office address
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday delivered a solemn call to voters to defend the country's democracy as he laid out in an Oval Office address his decision to drop his bid for reelection and throw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
Barrie-Innisfil MPP 'blacked-out' and crashed car into window of child care centre
Staff at a Barrie child care centre say they are frustrated by what they call a local MPP's inadequate response after a car crashed through a window in one of the toddler rooms.
Norad intercepts Russian and Chinese bombers operating together near Alaska in apparent first
The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) intercepted two Russian and two Chinese bombers flying near Alaska Wednesday in what appears to be the first time the two countries have been intercepted while operating together.
2 Canadians being 'sent home immediately,' removed from Olympic team after drone incident
An analyst and an assistant coach with Canada Soccer are being removed from the Canadian Olympic Team and 'sent home immediately,' according to the Canadian Olympic Committee.
An unwelcome attendee has joined the Paris Olympic Games: COVID-19
After a handful of Australian water polo players tested positive for COVID-19 this week, questions have emerged around how the spread of the disease will be mitigated at the Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
Vacations, meals, booze: Contractor used $100K of charity's money for personal expenses, B.C. court finds
A B.C. man who was hired to help a non-profit build a food hub but instead spent the money on personal expenses – including travel, restaurants, booze and cannabis – has been ordered to pay more than $120,000 in damages.
Male, female killed, 2 others injured in 'gun battle' outside Toronto plaza: police
Two people are dead and two others suffered serious injuries following a shooting that police have described as a 'gun battle' outside a plaza in Scarborough, Ont. early Wednesday morning.