RVers get call from Nevada

This time of year, Margaret Ann Schneweis spends many workdays with a yellow highlighting pen in her hand, drawing routes on maps of Nevada for RV owners.

At a dozen RV shows across the country, Schneweis the promotions manager for the Nevada Commission on Tourism sells the state to RV travelers.

Her work with pen in hand is just part of an aggressive effort by the state to court the RV crowd.

Ads in national magazines and radio spots across the region pitch Nevada as a great place for RV enthusiasts.

No other state devotes similar efforts to attracting the RV market, but that portion of the tourism market is darned enticing, Schneweis said the other day as she touched base in Nevada for a few hours between RV shows.

"It's a hugely growing market," she said.

"RV sales are phenomenal."

RV sales this year are expected to reach a 25-year high and the number of households that own an RV is expected to rise by 15 percent by 2010, reported Richard Curtin, director of consumer surveys for the University of Michigan Survey Research Center.

And those RV enthusiasts tend to be younger baby boomers are catching the RV bug, Schneweis said and more wealthy than many expect.

"We're talking about coaches that are $1.5 million," the tourism official said.

RV enthusiasts are a particularly attractive market for Nevada tourism officials because many of the far-flung rural areas of the state are short of conventional tourism amenities.

"We encourage them to visit rural Nevada," Schneweis said.

"They take their own beds with them."

The state takes a multi-pronged approach to reaching RV audiences.

The advertising campaign includes RV specialty publications such as Trailer Life and Motor Home, but also reaches general audiences through publications such as the AAA magazine Via.

Radio spots air in Portland, Seattle and Salt Lake City.

The centerpiece of the promotional effort is the giveaway of a $70,000 Winnebago RV.

Entrants sign up at RV parks and state parks across Nevada, and the winner is selected in the autumn.

But all the advertising in the world can't replace the face-to-face time that Schneweis spends at RV shows, often presenting seminars about travel in Nevada when she's not staffing a booth.

"This group of people is word-of-mouth like you wouldn't believe," Schneweis said.

"They're very niche oriented.

They're looking for experiences."

One other thing the state has learned since it aggressively targeted the RV market in 2001: RV travelers aren't impulse buyers.

Most plan their travel months even years in advance and carefully sketch out the places they want to visit and the sights they want to see.

The RV industry loves the campaign.

"It's a beautiful thing," said Jennifer Mannix, executive director of marketing for Sands Regent Corp., which owns the Gold Ranch Casino and RV Park at Verdi.

"It's perfect for Nevada."