RV Vacations are still the Least Expensive Way to Go

Despite record-breaking fuel prices, typical RV trips remain the least expensive type of vacation, according to a new study comparing vacation costs. RV vacations were found to offer big savings over travel by car or plane with hotel accommodations or rental properties and restaurants meals.

PKF Consulting, an international consulting firm with expertise in travel and tourism, found that “typical RV family vacations are on average 27 to 61 percent less expensive than other types of vacations studied.”

PKF analyzed major costs that would be incurred by a family of four taking eight different types of vacations to such popular travel destinations as the Grand Canyon; Cape Cod; Napa, Calif; and Alaska.

RV vacations were more economical than the other types analyzed in all but one case, even as fuel prices increase. Fuel prices would have to more than double for typical motorhome vacations to become more expensive than other forms of travel, according to PKF Consulting. The study also shows that fuel costs would have to more than triple for trips in lightweight travel trailers or folding camping trailers to be more expensive than the least expensive non-RV vacation. Almost 80 percent of the RV market consists of towable RVs, including lightweight units which can be towed by car, van or pickup.

The study showed that a family of four traveling from Phoenix, Ariz. to Napa, Calif., with their folding camping trailer for 10 days, staying in campgrounds at the local average of $33 per night, would save 52 percent, or $2,379 over the same trip taken by car, staying in hotels averaging $122 per night and eating in restaurants. Taking the same vacation by a Type C motorhome would save $1704, or 37 percent, over going by car.

Shorter getaways by RVs were also found to be more economical. For example, a family taking a three-day vacation from Pittsburgh, Pa. to Lancaster, Pa., would save $323 or 31 percent by towing a conventional travel trailer, rather than going by car, staying in hotels and eating in restaurants. The savings would be even greater – $889 or 52 percent – for families taking the same trip by a Type C motorhome rather than flying.

Of the eight different types of vacations analyzed by PKF, the only non-RV type found to be less costly than going by RV was a car/hotel/restaurant vacation compared to a vacation in an ultra-luxury Type A motorhome.

Source: Leading tourism research firm PKF Consulting.