Supershow lives up to name

The organiser of the super-organised Sydney Supershow has given this year’s event the thumbs up, despite a slight drop off in crowd numbers.

According to the Caravan & Camping Industry Association of NSW, overall visitors to the nine-day, NSW Caravan, Camping, RV & Holiday Supershow at Rosehill Racecourse was 75,549, or around 1000 less than last year’s total.

Thanks to fine weather, the event got off to a great start with 26,000 flocking through the gates over the opening week-end. However without an ANZAC day long weekend to pull in the punters the five 'working' days averaged just over 6000 a day.

The CCIANSW said a new site plan that created dedicated product zones and used coloured directional signage for the first time, making it much easier for visitors to locate specific displays, was welcomed by both visitors and exhibitors.

Also encouraging showgoers was the ‘dog friendly’ policy – believed to be a first for an Australian RV show.

"Our new approach to the show layout was well received and, along with the (special show) app, it really assisted people in finding what they were after -- a vital tool when you have more than 300 exhIbitors and thousands of  products on display,” said CCIANSW CEO Lyndel Gray.

However, despite more exhibitor space this year, a number of manufacturers including Queensland’s Kedron Caravans missed out on a place, while regular exhibitors such as Vista RV were also missing.

But unlike the similarly jam-packed Melbourne Supershow a CCIANSW spokesperson said there's no intention to move to a bigger venue to try and accommodate everyone. Instead, the NSW Association will “continue to push for more access (to exhibitor space) but this is a tough negotiation with the venue”.

And despite grumbles from some exhibitors about the show’s marathon nine-day duration, the show’s format is unlikely to change either.

“I think with all the organisation of getting everyone in there (it takes a week to set up) anything less than two weekends would be sub-optimal.  Weekends are obviously the prime time for sales and attendance,” the spokesperson said.

While a number of RV manufacturers and suppliers reported disappointing sales at this year’s Supershow, others were more upbeat about the public's response especially to new products.

“We had a very good show in Sydney with terrific, positive response to our new interior colour options for the Coromal Element and Lifestyle,” said Paul Sparke, the National Sales & Marketing Manager for Fleetwood RV which builds Coromal and Windsor caravans.

“The Coromal Navigator did exceptionally well over the course of the show and there was strong interest in the Windsor Rapids as well, which continue to be a favourite in the marketplace,” he said.

Also attracting a crowd were Jayco’s dirt-cheap J-Pod camper; the first Airstreams displayed at a major Australian caravan show; the first plastic-framed Swift Caravan in Australia; the first slide-out Windsor caravan, and clever new gadgets like the EzyLevel designed to make life even easier for today’s pampered caravanners.

Undoubtedly the happiest person at the show was Western Sydney’s Sue Betteridge, who was the lucky winner of a $60,000 Elite Luxury caravan in the Passport Competition, which attracted around 30,000 entries.

Other winners were Trakka (Best Motorhome/Campervan Display), Cub Campers (Best Camper Trailer display) as well as Elite Caravans, which picked up Best Caravan Display thanks to an impressive ‘dome’ marquee and on-site barista.