TAMPA, Fla. \u2013 The 30,000-foot assessment of the\u00a0Florida RV SuperShow\u00a0was decidedly positive \u2013 more so than many in the industry had anticipated after a challenging year \u2013 while the overall outlook for\u00a02026 at this point might best be described as cautiously upbeat.<\/p>\n
Show director Dave Kelly, executive director of the sponsoring Florida RV Trade Assocation (FRVTA) said this morning, \u201cI thought it was fantastic. Much better than anything I was anticipating.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said attendance \u2013 at 70,100 \u2013 was above last year\u2019s 68,000. The record, set in 2022, was just north of 80,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone I\u2019ve talked to or heard from said they did very, very well,\u201d he said. \u201cI know Brinkley was ecstatic. I understand Alliance was very happy. Really, just about everybody I talked to said they had a great show.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a bittersweet day for Kelly today as he helped pack up the show office following his final stint as director. His retirement becomes effective later this year as Ken Loyd, a long-time FRVTA stalwart takes over.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery much so,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cThey had a cake for me Sunday afternoon. Yeah, very much mixed feelings about it, but I feel like I went out on a high note with the way the show went.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also giving the Tampa Show sterling reviews was Blue Compass RV President & CEO Jon Ferrando who, back in his Ft. Lauderdale headquarters office on Monday (Jan. 19), felt that his 100-store dealership had experienced \u201can extraordinary week\u201d in Tampa for the second year in a row.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe smashed our all-time sales record, Ferrando told RVB. \u201cOur SuperShow sales were up 20% over our record last year. Behind the sales growth was the fact that our product mix was spot on this year. We saw a tremendous performance across the board at Jayco, Alliance, Forest River Rockwood and Aurora. We also had great weeks at Airstream, Foretravel and THOR Geneva.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blue Compass also added Thor\u2019s Entegra diesels to this year\u2019s lineup.<\/p>\n
Also behind Blue Compass\u2019s strong performance, Ferrando feels, was the fact that his staff spent months preparing for show season and brought \u201can immensely talented team\u201d of 200 sales and finance specialists. \u201cAnd the real deciding factor is our team outworked everyone,\u201d said Ferrando. \u201cThey were there having fun, bringing positive energy 12 hours a day, and we had great support from our OEM partners.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bottom line, Ferrando feels the 2026 Tampa Show was a positive signal for his company and the market in general. \u201cYes, the RV industry is alive and well,\u201d he said. \u201cWe saw attendance climb with the final numbers over 70,000, beating last year\u2019s numbers even with some challenging weather on Thursday and Sunday. And when you have that kind of a turnout, to me that sends a clear signal that the consumer demand for the RV lifestyle is powerful and resilient and that Tampa, which was strong product-wise across the board but especially in towables, is a bellwether that helps set the tone for a good year in the beginning of the RV market recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacksonville, Fla.-based Campers Inn RV had the largest footprint of any dealer at the show with more than 450 units on display and Campers Inn COO Ben Hirsch was encouraged by the results.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was our first experience being in a show with as many products,\u201d he said, adding that between sales people, managers and support staff there were also 300 Campers Inn employees on site.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a great show,\u201d he said. \u201cIn spite of some weather issues on Thursday and Sunday when cold fronts came through \u2013 freezing, really windy \u2013 it kind of kicked some customers out. In spite of that, we had a great show. What we saw, really hot, we actually saw good sales in motorized and high-end fifth-wheels. We saw a lot of customers coming in on those. Not saying that other segments didn\u2019t do OK, but those were kind of the standouts for us during the show.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hirsch also noted that Campers Inn saw good results at this past weekend\u2019s Boston show as well. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have good weather and we still had a lot of customers coming out and purchasing. Not only not good weather, but a Patriots game in the middle of the day on Sunday, said with a chuckle.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat, and we\u2019ve had Hershey and a couple of other good shows around the country and we feel pretty optimistic based on what we\u2019re seeing so far,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Among the exhibitors was\u00a0Goshen, Ind.-based Brinkley RV, a front-line towable RV manufacturer that will be celebrating its fourth year in business in May.<\/p>\n
Co-Owner Nate Goldenberg\u00a0says he can\u2019t speak for the rest of the industry regarding the Tampa Show with Brinkley\u2019s staff unable to leave its exhibit because it was \u201cbusier than heck, and the sales were amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brinkley also held a customer appreciation event at its Tampa Show display that drew 400 consumers. \u201cSo, it was a really good show with a lot of very motivated attendees,\u201d said Goldenberg. \u201cYeah. I mean, a lot of them were coming to buy. And every customer you interact with doesn\u2019t always buy at the show, either. I mean, a lot of them go home and buy from their local dealer. It just depends on the situation and the relationships they have with other companies.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut by and large, we pretty much hit our lofty goal for the show, which is pretty impressive for us. It\u2019ll be the best show we\u2019ve ever had, and I hope it\u2019s a sign for the greater economy and the season to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jarod Lippert, Chief Marketing Officer for Lippert Components, said traffic at the leading RV component supplier\u2019s booth was strong all week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the second we opened our booth on Tuesday till right now, it\u2019s just been pretty busy,\u201d he said on Saturday. Highlighting the 18K Chill Cube with a heat pump integrated into it, Lippert called it a great option.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201dYou don\u2019t have to use propane, you can run your heat off electric,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s got variable-speed compressors, and it\u2019s been very popular all week. We\u2019re also selling a lot of furniture and taking orders for installations at a lot of our service locations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lippert was also happy to see the crowds which greeted his team each day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was here all year last year, and I can absolutely say there is definitely more traffic. I\u2019m hearing the same thing from some of the customers out there, too,\u201d he said, gesturing toward the OEM displays outside the supplier building. \u201cHopefully that\u2019s a sign of things to come.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Long known as a bellwether for the year ahead, Lippert said he felt the Tampa show gave reason to be optimistic, \u201calthough it\u2019s hard to tell anything for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone in this day and age can predict anything,\u201d he said. \u201cBut judging by the traffic here, I think there are reasons to be hopeful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also taking a pretty upbeat view in early 2026 after having attended the\u00a0Florida RV SuperShow\u00a0was\u00a0Bob Parish, vice president of national accounts for Chicago-based Wells Fargo Inventory Finance, who says some of the show\u2019s exhibitors were \u201cpleasantly surprised\u201d by the outcome.<\/p>\n
And\u00a0despite some rough weather Thursday and Sunday, consumers were out in force including more families with small children simply out RV shopping, said Parish, a Tampa resident who again attended the estimated 1,300-unit show.<\/p>\n
\u201cOpening day attendance was as strong as any I\u2019ve seen,\u201d he noted. \u201cI\u2019ve been going to this show since its inception actually and this year\u2019s opening day on Wednesday was very, very strong. Some dealers reported that sales were so brisk that first day (Wednesday) that they were achieving 20 to 25% of their overall show goals in day one.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cNow Thursday was a different story with the high winds and cold weather, but it\u2019s safe to say that many dealers were still exceeding their expectations, Parish observed. \u201cAnd most were at least meeting last year\u2019s sales. So, it\u2019s interesting to see the consumers\u2019 reaction in this dicey of a market. And I will say, looking at price points, that it appears to be the bigger, higher-dollar units that were selling, with fifth-wheels and diesel (motorhome) sales surprisingly strong.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0So, Parish\u2019s updated outlook based upon the traffic, sales and buzz at Tampa \u2013 a show in which OEM\u2019s showcased a number of innovative new lines \u2014 is that the RV market is \u201cstable,\u201d which, given the general state of the marketplace since 2002\u2019s Covid spike, is saying something.<\/p>\n
Coley Brady, co-founder of Elkhart, Ind.-based Alliance RV, said, \u201cJust to talk hard numbers \u2013 it was a record-breaking year for us, There\u2019s a lot of excitement around the RV industry. I feel having the interest rates come down slightly in Q4 helped. Based on the traffic we saw and the customers we talked too, it seems consumer confidence is trending up.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cI think, based on what we\u2019re hearing and seeing, we didn\u2019t see the negative equity we\u2019ve seen in past shows and past years. It seems like consumers are in a much better position overall to get that new RV. I\u2019m very optimistic for 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officials with Thor Industries, Inc. and Forest River, Inc. could not be reached for comment this morning. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2013 The 30,000-foot assessment of the\u00a0Florida RV SuperShow\u00a0was decidedly positive \u2013 more so than many in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-124058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}