Aug. 2, 2005

Motorhome owners enjoy the advantages of traveling in a vehicle equipped with all the comforts of home ...

Avoiding airport lines and luggage restrictions. Having the flexibility to go where they want, when they want. Not having to pack and unpack their belongings in hotels or meet hotel check-in and check-out times.

Now, they can also bask in the glow of reports that RV travel costs less than other modes of travel such as car, train and plane.

Despite this summer’s record-high gas prices, RV trips remain the least expensive type of vacation, according to the results of a new study comparing vacation costs.

PKF Consulting, an internationally recognized consulting firm with expertise in travel and tourism, concluded that “typical RV family vacations are on average 26 to 74 percent less expensive than other types of vacations studied.”

For example, the study showed that a family of four traveling by type C motorhome from Washington, D.C., to Dennis Port, Mass., for 10 days would save $974, or 34 percent, over going by car.

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

PKF selected three types of RVs typically used by families for vacation purposes, including the type C motorhome.

“In all cases, RV trips were more economical than other vacations analyzed, regardless of trip duration, distance or region of the country,” said Kannan Sankaran, PKF’s lead researched for the study. “Even if fuel prices were to rise by up to 50 percent, our data show that each RV vacation would still be significantly less expensive.”

Vacations using a personal car, staying in hotels and eating in restaurants — the least expensive of the non-travel options — were found to be 36 percent more costly on average than going by RV.

The study showed, for example, that a family of four traveling by type C motorhome from Washington, D.C., to Dennis Port, Mass., for 10 days would save $974, or 34 percent, over going by car.

On a trip from Atlanta to Orlando for the week, a family of four would save $1,658, or 53 percent, by traveling in their motorhome and staying in campgrounds averaging $27 per night, instead of flying, renting a car, or staying in hotels averaging $125 per night and eating in restaurants.

Shorter getaways also were found to be more economical by RV. A family taking a three-day motorhome trip from Pittsburgh, Pa., to Lancaster, Pa., would save $1,049 – or 62 percent.

“While fuel costs are a component of the overall vacation costs,” Kannan said, “fluctuations in fuel prices aren’t significant enough to affect a family’s decision of whether or not to take RV trips over other types of vacations.”

In addition to major expenditures required from the start to finish of each vacation, PKF factored in an estimated cost of ownership of the RVs analyzed. Research included documenting average ownership periods, residual values, annual days of use, insurance and applicable IRS interest deductions for second-home mortgages.