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What is the market size and growth for 'overlanding' in North America.
Hello! Thanks for your question about the size and growth of the North American market for overlanding. While there is no pre-existing information to fully answer your question, we have used the available data to pull together the following key findings: (a) increases in Overland Expo attendance, Expedition Portal's membership, and sales of sprinter vans all point to growth in the North American overlanding industry, and (b) based on the magnitude of these increases, significant market growth can be expected in succeeding years.
Below you will find an outline of our research methodology, as well as a deep dive into our findings.
METHODOLOGY
To answer your question, we first checked if there are reports by market research firms on the overlanding industry. An extensive search revealed there are no such industry reports. Moreover, no articles discussing the size, revenue, sales, or growth of the market were found. We were unable to locate any data readily indicating the size of the market, in dollars, and the rate by which the market grows.
Because of this, we proceeded to look for organizations, publications, or events that are associated with overlanding. This second approach turned out to be more fruitful than the first, as we were able to gather a number of helpful statistics. They do not directly answer your question, but they provide valuable insight into the growth of the industry.
We also tried searching for the revenue and market share of key players in the market, as we hoped that the two figures can be used to triangulate your requested data. But, again, our search did not yield anything useful.
Given the limited information we found, reliable estimates of market size and growth could not be provided, so we instead presented below the relevant insights we were able to gather.
HELPFUL FINDINGS
Overland Expo's event statistics give us an idea of how the overlanding industry in North America is growing. Arizona-based Overland Expo describes itself as the "premier overlanding event in the world" and statistics pertaining to its 2015 East, 2015 West, 2016 East, 2016 West, 2017 East, and 2017 West events demonstrate the remarkable growth the overlanding industry is experiencing. For your convenience, we prepared a spreadsheet summarizing these statistics; one tab is for the East and the other is for the West.
1. Between 2015 and 2017, the number of attendees of the East expo grew by around 175%. Over 2,000 people from all over the world attended in 2015, while over 5,500 attended in 2017. The number of registered exhibitors grew as well, with the number increasing by 70% from over 100 in 2015 to 170 in 2017.
2. Between 2015 and 2017, the number of attendees of the West expo grew by around 130%. Over 5,000 people from all over the world attended in 2015, while over 11,500 attended in 2017. The number of registered exhibitors grew as well, with the number increasing by 24% from 245 in 2015 to 305 in 2017.
3. Growth is observed in the following aspects as well: (a) number of "classes, seminars, demos, activities, slideshows, and films"; and (b) number of volunteers.
4. U.S. states and Canadian provinces usually represented in the East expo include Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, the Carolinas, California, Ontario, and Quebec. Those usually represented in the West expo, on the other hand, include Arizona, California, Colorado, Alaska, Florida, and Canadian provinces.
Based on the Overland Expo's table of prices, the price of pass/package per adult ranges from $15 for the One-Day Pass: Sunday Special to $375 for the Overland Experience (Vehicle) Package. If we consider the average of these two prices ($195) and the attendance in 2017 (5,500 + 11,500), we can estimate Overland Expo's revenue from its packages or passes to be about $3.135 million.
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Apart from these statistics from Overland Expo, other market growth indicators we came across with during research are:
1. The increase in membership of Expedition Portal, a "community of adventure travelers" founded by Overland International CEO Scott Brady
Number of members increased from 2,000 in 2006 to 150,000 in 2016. The portal is viewed an average of 1.2 million times each month. Also, it was reported in early 2012 that Expedition Portal's membership had increased by "10,000 members per year for the past four years."
2. The increase in sales of sprinter vans
In the past decade, sales of sprinter vans in the United States have reportedly increased three-fold.
3. The number of subscribers of popular YouTube channels dedicated to overland travel
Expedition Overland
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Year started - 2011
Subscribers - 120,125
4xOverland
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Year started - 2007
Subscribers - 88,830
Overland Bound
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Year started - 2013
Subscribers - 53,578
Ronny Dahl
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Year started - 2011
Subscribers - 128,605
It was reported in early 2012 that the journal's circulation had been increasing by 20% to 30% each year.
Founded in 1981, Dragoman says it has "grown steadily in size" to their "current fleet of 26 overland trucks and 1 converted overland bus." Though based in the United Kingdom, it offers numerous overland trips in North America, the prices of which range from below £750 ($987) to over £3,000 ($3,950).
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We were also able to find some information on prices. For example, based on an interview recently posted by travel blogger Nomadic Matt, a rule of thumb for estimating overland trip costs could be $75 per day per couple, with this amount breaking down into: lodging - $20, food - $20, vehicle expenses - $35. Gear Patrol also provides information on the best vehicles to use for overlanding and their corresponding prices. There is not enough information on the subject, though, for us to use these statistics and come up with a reasonable triangulation of the size and growth of the overlanding industry in North America.
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, after searching extensively through resources such as articles about overlanding and organizations and publications associated with overlanding, a direct answer to your question could not be found and there is not enough information online to triangulate the answer. However, we found several statistics pointing to the continuous growth of the overlanding industry. For example, between 2015 and 2017, the number of people attending Overland Expo's East and West events has grown by 175% and 130%, respectively. Also, the number of members of Expedition Portal, a community founded by Overland International CEO Scott Brady, had increased from 2,000 in 2006 to 150,000 in 2016. Based on the magnitude of these increases, significant market growth can be expected in succeeding years.
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