Families continue to road-school too, using their RV as a classroom alternative
(Herndon, VA – February 2023): There is a fundamental change happening in the way Americans travel, work, study, and live. According to the LinkedIn Workforce Confidence Index, nearly half of all professionals have flexibility in where they work with 28% working remotely and 18% working in a hybrid environment.
That’s translated into a boom for the RV industry as more and more individuals choose to build adventure into their work week. In fact, 55% of RVers plan on working from the road in the year ahead and 25% of leisure travelers will do the same. While exploring the great outdoors has been a top reason for RVing, respondents who cited flexibility in their work increased by 12% in the past year.
What started as a response to the pandemic has endured with the demographics of remote workers and RVers expanding as well. According to a recent survey*, 44% of GenZ and 38% of Millennial travelers plan to work from the road in the year ahead while the average age of a new RV buyer has plummeted to 33 years old in 2021.
But it’s not just the workforce that’s shifting to a healthier work-life balance. 13% of leisure travelers and 39% of RVers home-schooled from the road (known as road-schooling) in the past 24 months. With a 125% increase in homeschooling since pre-pandemic, the number of families making the road their classroom is also growing.
Homeschooling from the Road
The RV industry has responded to these shifts in our culture with new options of RVs built with dedicated space that can be used as an office or classroom and transform into a dining, sleeping, or living area.
Dedicated Office in an Airstream Flying Cloud 30FB Travel Trailer
In addition to working or studying remotely, and connecting with the outdoors, another top reason for people choosing RV travel is the desire to spend more time with friends and family. This is especially true among Gen Z and Millennial leisure travelers, with 49% and 48% respectively planning an RV trip and 41% and 35% saying they are likely to purchase an RV this year.
Finances are another top reason for the continued surge in RV travel. With RV vacations costing upwards of 50% less than comparable hotel and plane ride trips and 33% less than hotel and car ride trips, RVing is an attractive option for people looking for the freedom to travel while also controlling their travel expenses.
Considering an estimated 67 million Americans plan to take an RV trip this year, representing 37% are leisure travelers, the trend of remote work, road-schooling, and RVing as a vacation option is expected to continue to climb.
*The Travel Intentions Survey Commissioned by the RV Industry Association and conducted by Cairn Consulting, 1,212 surveys were completed by a statistically balanced cross-section of U.S. leisure travelers. The survey results have an associated margin of error of +/- 2.74 percentage points. Leisure travelers are defined as any U.S. residents who have taken a leisure trip in the past 12 months.