SYRACUSE -- Since the calendar turned to a new year, Tom Montague's itinerary has included trips to Ontario, Canada; Tampa, Fla.; and Denver.
He has not been spending the time seeing the sights or relaxing by a hotel pool. Rather he has been meeting with dealers, greeting customers and selling recreational vehicles.
"It's a great time to be in the RV industry," said the national sales manager for Redwood RV.
That's strong sentiment from a sector that just a year ago recorded a 30 percent drop in wholesale shipments, according to figures from the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association. In addition, retail sales of towables dropped 25.9 percent and motorhomes fell 34.8 percent, Statistical Surveys reported.
However, 2010 provided a remarkable turnaround and wholesale shipment totals released Wednesday show the industry made an unexpected bounce in December.
"I was pleasantly surprised by the numbers," said Mac Bryan, vice president of administration at RVIA, "and obviously that's setting up 2011 to be much better than we dared to anticipate."
For all of 2010, wholesale shipments surged nearly 46 percent to 242,300. That compared to the freefall the industry took in 2009 when shipments sunk about 30 percent to 166,400 units from 237,000 in 2008.
December's shipments of 18,300 RVs outpaced the previous month's by 30.7 percent. In the past decade, the final month of the year often underperformed November in terms of shipments and usually posted one of the fewest shipment amounts, if not the fewest, of the entire year.
The RV industry has charted dramatic drops followed by stunning accelerations going into and emerging from recessions in the past, Bryan said. It is proof, he said, the industry is a leading indicator of the overall economy.
Currently, shipment totals for 2011 are predicted to reach 246,000, although an updated forecast should be finished in three weeks, Bryan said. Again, the pattern for the industry is after making a strong return, it moderates into a more sustainable rate of expansion.
"I would not be surprised by strong growth in 2011 but it's clearly not going to be 45 percent," Bryan said.
Consumers are crowding the RV retail shows, Montague said, and they are buying.
The industry is still attracting its base customer of the retired or nearly retired. In particular, baby boomers who are close to retirement have been attending the shows and looking at the product offerings, Montague said.
Also, young families are buying RVs because, Montague said, they see camping as a way to spend time with their children without having to pay the high prices tied to some weekend getaways.
"You don't have $9 hotdogs when you're sitting in the middle of the woods," Montague pointed out.