(SBT24/7News) Wholesale RV shipments, used as a barometer of industry performance, will slip in 2008, according to an industry outlook presented Tuesday morning at the start of the National RV Trade Show.

Shipments in 2008 are expected to be near 334,200 units, down from the 2007 forecast number of 351,200, said Richard Coon, president of the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association, the organization behind this week's show in Louisville.

But Coon qualified the estimate, saying "334,200 units shipped in 2008 would still be comfortably above the 10-year average."

Between 1997 and 2006, the last 10 full years for which industry-gathered data is available, RV manufacturers shipped an average of 320,210 units to dealers every year.

The outlook was part of the massive 6:30 a.m. breakfast meeting that traditionally kicks off the industry's largest trade show. It included details on how much the industry will spend in advertising over the next year and where those ads will appear. Also discussed was the possibility of marketing products in India, China and South Africa.

You can read more on this story in Wednesday's South Bend Tribune.