Absentee RVers Give Quartzsite and Southwest a Wake-Up Call

Checking back with several vendors from the recent Quartzsite RV show it turns out they estimate attendance was down anywhere from 30 to 50 percent this year. Sales were also down as the usual crowds failed to materialize for the 2008 season. A vendor said, "Having done the show twice, in 2005 & 2006, we and other vendors see a dramatic downturn in traffic, perhaps 40% attendee decrease and profits off 50%." With his cap off and scratching his head another vendor theorizes that folks are absent this year because of high fuel prices and a lousy economy. Some think Quartzsite is suffering because the city has turned against boondocking RVers and is trying to make Quartzsite into a resort town like Palm Springs. Prime vendor spots have recently been lost to commercial RV dealerships in Quartzsite. But the story doesn’t end in the dust bowl of Quartzsite, the contagion is present all over the south west. Saturday I went to the swap meet at Goodyear a suburb of Pheonix, Arizona. Last year this place was so packed you had to keep checking your wallet pocket because people were bumping into you at every turn. This year you could fire a cannon down the walkway and not injure anyone. Vendors here report sales are down more than 50 percent from last year. About one third of the swap meet complex was vacant where last year it was full of vendors. Something is wrong and I’m not sure what it is. 2008 could be the slowest RV season ever here in the south west. Keeping my fingers on the pulse of the RV scene - Jim Twamley, Professor of RVing