Having concluded May 21, at Fort Tuthill County Park in Flagstaff, Ariz., the three-day Overland Expo West extravaganza fulfilled its billing as one of the world’s premier events for do-it-yourself adventure travel enthusiasts.
Like the RV industry, the Overland Expo reached stratospheric highs in 2021. And while business returned to earth last year, 2023 shows strong growth, according to Overland Expo Director of Communications Nick Jaynes. “While I do not have industry statistics yet, anecdotally, the five-year trend continues to move upward,” he told RVBusiness.
Jaynes pointed to record-breaking Expo numbers – such as 30,000-plus attendees, 417 registered exhibitors, 136 presenters, 110 journalists, and over 509 session hours of instructions. In addition, the show attracted visitors from more than 45 states and international guests from many countries, including Great Britain, Australia, the Czech Republic, Canada, Mexico and Peru.
Highlights included:
- The reveal of Ultimate Overland Vehicle 2023, based upon the LX600, and Ultimate Overland Motorcycle 2023, based upon the Triumph Tiger 1200
- Global debut of fourth-gen Toyota Tacoma
- The public reveal of Polaris Xpedition
- Attendees raised over $18,000 for the Overland Expo Foundation with raffle ticket purchases — the most ever raised for the Foundation at the raffle.
- Fans got to test the Toyota 4Runner and new Tundra on the off-road ridealong course
- The sold-out Rider Justice Moto Party hosted a moto raffle with thousands of dollars in prizes being given away. A portion of the proceeds, $1,000, was donated to Wildland Firefighter Foundation.
- Thousands attended Happy Hours hosted by Cruise Master, MAXXIS, and Barebones Living for networking and post-event libations
- Hundreds of fans enjoyed the Overland Film Fest, which hosted films produced by overlanders from around the world
Many exhibitor names will be familiar to RVBusiness readers, such as Battle Born Batteries, Dometic, EcoFlow, Expedition Overland, Garmin, Go Power, Hellwig Suspension Products, Mercedes-Benz Vans, OPUS Camper, Polaris, REDARC, Renogy, Sportsmobile, Winnebago, and Xantrex.
Overland Expo West is one of four Expos planned for 2023. The series is owned and produced by Emerald X Inc. In addition to the Flagstaff Expo, other expos will be held in the Pacific Northwest, July 7-9 (Redmond, Ore.); Mountain West, Aug. 25-27 (Loveland, Colo.); and the East, Oct. 6-8 (Arrington, Va.).