It’s no secret that the Covid pandemic has kick-started a renewed interest in domestic travel … but the scale of the camping revolution has surprised even seasoned industry experts.
Caravan Industry Association of Australia chief executive, Stuart Lamont, says the public’s appetite for buying caravans had been ‘insatiable’ since the onset of Covid.
This demand has been fuelled by the uncertainty of international travel, skyrocketing property prices, and just a pent-up desire to get exploring again.
“Especially as cruises have had their troubles, people are looking for an alternative,” Mr Lamont told the Herald-Sun newspaper. “We had interest pre-Covid, but also we have the benefit of being largely (Covid safe) outdoors, and it’s continued to be affordable – so it’s in a real sweet spot.”
Demand for off-road caravans in surging.
And the fact that the virus is now circulating widely in many parts of the country has seen many people eager to get out into genuinely remote areas … and there’s been a corresponding uptick in demand for off-road caravans.
Jayco says it’s recently seen sales of its all-terrain caravan sales jump by 30%.
“We have seen a significant increase in sales across all new and used RVs, with new people coming into the market that may not have considered caravanning before,” Jayco national sales manager Scott Jones told the Herald-Sun. “With international travel and cruising trips off the cards for quite some time, people have been looking for new, safe, and affordable ways to travel our amazing country.”
He encouraged all Australians to get out and explore the regions at a time when so many communities had done it tough.
“The opportunities now to explore and travel in our own regional areas are huge,” Mr Jones told the Herald-Sun. “It also helps boost the local economy and help support businesses that may have been affected by the pandemic in the last 24 months.”
And, as many wannabe grey nomads will already know, the surge in demand has left some RV manufacturers struggling to keep up.
Jayco is no exception.
“Like all industries experiencing increased demand comes the potential for longer production lead times, we are looking at employing more staff to reduce this,” Mr Jones told the Herald-Sun. “We currently have over 100 outstanding jobs available.”
Hi All
As a Wannabe Grey Nomad waiting to hit the road.
My story is I placed a deposit on a caravan on 9th November 2019 and it has still not arrived as of 1/02/2022.
Now the good news is I received an email last week stating you caravan will be ready at the end of April barring any lockdowns ,delays in spare parts and staff issues .
That will be an 18 months wait.
Can anyone beat that?
Hope to see some of you on the road this year.
David
November 2019? … that’s not 18 months, it’s more than 2 years! Guessing you meant November 2020.. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it when it comes for sure.
We want to go travelling but can’t because we can not a loan to buy the van because my husband is on a disability pension and I am on a cares pension. We are in a rented house. I want to get and so much to is Australia.
I bought my new caravan from Kratsman Caravans in 2017… last year they rang me up to see if I would sell it back to them, BUT for wholesale price only, reasons were we don’t have any stock