A Rare Travel Winner This Summer Weighs 10 Tons, Gets 18 Miles to the Gallon
Photo Credit: An RV in Lime Park, Colorado. The industry could see more customers in the coming months. RVIA / Adam Clark
Skift Take
With international travel still difficult, and social distancing likely to continue for a while, RVs are an increasingly popular vacation option that allow travelers to go away but still feel the safety of home.
Nowhere is the shift in pandemic-era travel and the industry's nascent recovery more visible than in Elkhart County, Indiana, a collection of gritty factory towns that is a two-hour drive east of Chicago. Among its plants are manufacturers of recreational vehicles, RVs.
Elkhart workers, to RV dealers across the country, are having one busy summer, as Americans seek road trips as an alternative to flying and long vacations, forcing manufacturing plants to ramp up production.
Some factories are keeping the assembly lines moving for as many as six days a week during extended shifts in order to meet the demand, according to Monika Geraci, senior manager, marketing strategy and operations at the RV Industry Association (RVIA).
This heightened demand is showing up in Elkhart Co
