The secret's out ... More people are discovering the joys of life on the open road.
The number of people out and about in caravans and motorhomes in Australia has soared to new heights.
New figures from Tourism Research Australia show national overnight camping, caravan, and RV trips reached 12.3 million for the year ending June 2018, marking the first time overnight trips have exceeded 12 million in a 12-month period.
Total nights spent caravanning and camping around the country increased by 6.5% to reach a record 52.8 million nights.
Peter Clay, from the Caravan Industry Association of Australia, told the ABC that, within the caravan and camping industry, the traditional 30- to 54-year-olds and 55+ age brackets remained the highest trip takers, with those groups going on 5.7 million and 3.6 million caravan or camping trips respectively.
The number of trips taken by the 20- to 29-year-old age bracket increased by 22% to surpass 2.2 million trips.
“From our perspective, the growth that we’re seeing, we haven’t seen for many, many years,” Mr Clay said. “It’s exciting to see Australians starting to enjoy Australia again, it’s great for tourism and Australia’s regional areas as well.”
Mr Clay told the ABC that there was also a connection with generational travel.
“If you caravan or camp as a child you are more likely to do it when you grow up as well,” he said. “So young adults are starting to think about the great times they had as children and seeing what they can do … they also want to go travelling and see Australia; we’ve seen a massive resurgence there.”
He said people were increasingly looking to get back to the simple things in life, connecting with people and nature, going hiking or hitting the beach.
When I was about 6 we had a holiday with my cousins in my grandmothers caravan at seaside Balnarring Victoria – loved it. Then my brother had a matchbox toy caravan which I desperately wanted so guess that’s what started my love affair with caravans. Ten vans later we still love it.
Love caravanning. Don’t live on the road but have been round Australia 3 times since 2005. We have belonged to a caravan club since 1988, joined when I was 40. Go to every rally when we are home. Thankfully we are both in good health.
My parents were great caravanner and I was fortunate enough to travel this fantastic country from a very early age. My wife and I have continued that family tradition we are now in our mid 60’s, and love getting away in the van.
We travel across the continent regularly and have been towing vans since I was old enough to hold a licence.
For those of us out there permanently on a low budget,,,…. Numbers will surely drop. Too many caravan parks are raising prices.. Getting ridiculous…. Also so many free camps getting closed down… Many reasons but three, I know for a fact, happened when local camping ground owners got themselves into council and or regulatory caravanning body. Towns are going to lose lots of money.
Growing up we never went on any type of caravanning or camping holidays however, my two sisters their husbands and myself and my husband all have RV’s and hit the road most of the year. We do our own trip planning and journeys occasionally meeting up when travelling and swap stories at family gatherings. Only one of our husbands did any camping growing up so the adventure must have been in all our genes anyway.
The Caravan Parks Owners Association of Queensland where successful in closing the Rockhampton Kershaw Gardens overnight park.
Yeah that’s right town councils will get gredy and close the free camps and lose a lot of business for shops in the town’s.
All the grey nomads need fuel and food and they will just go somewhere else.
Cheers
Ross
Years ago, with money tight, two young children, we had to take camping/caravaning holidays, in the u.k. It was, as expected, an ‘adventure’, in more ways than one. But, it has stayed with our now adult family, and now their ‘other-halfs’, were all heading off to W.A’s south coast for more family ‘adventures’. On the issue of towns/places to park etc, we were on the way back from a holiday ‘up north’, and stopped for some shopping, to be ‘advised’, not to park in correct area, as ‘the lower forms of human life’, will be at our car/camper trailer, as soon as we were in the i g a, at 10.00 in the morning! (so, as we didnt feel like walking back to Perth, from the topend…..)