‘Reluctance to travel down south’ one factor in strong R.V. sales in Alberta

Canadians are still reluctant to travel to the U.S. which is leading to strong RV sales. Alesia Fieldberg reports.

Sales of recreational vehicles (RVs) are rising in Alberta and tension south of the border seems to be playing a part.

Calgary RV Adventure Sale and Show attracted large crowds and vendors said plenty of people were buying.

“Saturday at the Calgary RV Show was a record sales day for us, I’d say the best sales day we’ve seen in our company in the last four years since those record COVID years,” said Brandon Urban, the operations manager of Western R.V. Country.

He said on January 24 more than 30 units were sold through Western RV Country and Field of Dreams RV, which are both part of the same group.

“It’s evident that Canadians want to stay home and go camping and enjoy their summer in Alberta,” said Urban.

According to an Abacus Data survey, 1 in 4 (23 per cent) Canadians said they avoided travel to the United States because of Donald Trump and his treatment of Canada.

The margin of error for a comparable survey is plus or minus 2.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The survey of 1,850 Canadian adults, showed Albertans seemed even more eager to avoid it with nearly one in three people (30 per cent) saying what’s happening with the U.S. influenced their decision not to travel there.

Urban said he has heard that from many customers.

“They’re continuing to stay close to home because of the global forces in the world right now, maybe a bit of reluctance to travel down south to the U.S.”

Megan Gusdal from Okotoks said American travel is “not anytime soon” for her family, partly due to U.S. tension.

“We have a big a family so it’s not easy to travel that far and the atmosphere doesn’t seem the greatest for us right now,” Gusdal said.

Statistics Canada says 7.6 million fewer Canadian travelled by vehicle into the U.S. last year, with the number of Canadian vehicles travelling to the United States and returning in 2025 dropping 30.9 per cent from the previous year.

Cost a factor

Cost is another factor influencing staycations, according to prospective buyers and vendors at the R.V. Show.

“Just getting on a plane with kids these days seems like a big thing and the cost is so much more for flying,” said Calgarian Julie Craig, who visited the RV show with her famly.

R.V. prices range from about $25, 000 to well over $100, 000, but can be enjoyed several times, and re-sold.

“Those Disney trips and Hawaii trips cost a fortune as you know, so RV camping is still a very economical, practical vacation option,” Urban added.

These factors may be why vendors are seeing fewer older couples buying motor homes and more families with kids buying R.V.s.

“This would be the highest volume of bunk model trailers we’ve sold in quite a few years now so it’s great to see families coming back, it’s great to see a lot of young kids in the building,” said Urban.

David Forma with Springbank-based Guarantee R.V., said political tension with the U.S. has also motivated more buyers to seek local products, including some units they sell which are made in Winkler, MB.

“When they are looking at buying and investing in new products, Canadian-made definitely pushes it over the top,” said Forma.

Calgary’s RV Show wraps up Jan 25 at 5 p.m.