Australia is about to enter a ‘golden era of caravanning’, according to a new report from a prestigious government body.
The Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) said that people were once again proving how much they love taking to the open road in search of adventure.
“After two years of lockdowns and travel restrictions, they are heading off in ever larger numbers,” it said. “The caravan industry is booming.”
Austrade says caravanning provides Australians with an affordable way to travel domestically, and brings economic benefits to many regional areas. According to its own research, domestic visitors account for 91% of total visitor spend in regional Australia.
There are more caravans on the road then ever before. PIC: Cizza
But, Austrade believes there are even better times ahead.
“As Australia heads into a golden age for caravanning, the industry is responding with innovative products and improved facilities,” it said.
The Chair of the National Caravan Industry Association of Australia, Grant Wilckens is equally enthusiastic and optimistic about the future of the caravanning industry … and he says there is a lot to be excited about.
“Imagine if you could cross the Kimberley in an electric vehicle?” he said. “At the moment it’s unheard of and is probably a year or two away, but imagine if you could cross the Gibb River Road in an electric four-wheel drive … that’s the sort of vision that we’re working towards.”
Mr Wilckens points out that both Europe and the US have strong electric vehicle markets. Smaller vehicles are more common in Europe. The US shares a preference for larger vehicles with Australia.
“We’re looking globally at the technology that’s advancing in the motor vehicle space,” he said. “The US is advancing very quickly in electric pick-up truck-type vehicles that can actually tow boats and caravans.”
And the American experience is convincing many here that the electrification of the caravan industry is closer than everyone thinks.
Mr Wilckens, who is also CEO of the G’Day Group, says the group has been investing in the infrastructure needed to support electric vehicles.
And that could be just the start, as he says customers have started to expect more from their parks.
Mr Wilckens says the Group’s ultimate goal is to streamline the customer experience through technology. While guests can already find and book a site in the G’Day Group app, the aims to also introduce contactless check-ins and departures.
When customers arrive, a sensor will identify their vehicles and open the boom gates. They will be able to locate their site through GPS. When their holiday is over, their departure will be equally hassle-free.
‘That’s the sort of seamless customer experience we want to have in our parks,’ said Mr Wilckens.
Screw Pegs Australia is offering Grey Nomad members the chance to win one of two Fully Stacked Starter Packs – each valued at $117. The pack includes:
Click here to learn about GN member benefits, how to join … and how to win!
I like to see the site before I pay – so the contactless check in is just another way to save on labour. Personal service will be a thing of the past. Yes we expect more of our parks, but prefer to have opportunities to also be out in the scrub. There are hydrogen trucks already in operation on a small scale in Australia – so maybe electric vehicles will be a short term solution.
Tried “contactless” for 2 nights at one of ,G’day Parks caravan park. Dearest accomodation of our 15 day trip at $99. Not impressed except it got us off the road and set up quicker, but impersonal and a lot of reading. 3 nights x “free” camps were better. We will take more of these to off-set fuel costs. We won’t be around for EV tow vehicles, even in the unlikely circumstances, IF they are ever perfected.
Wjat happens when the first veh does not have access and no one avail to let them know the booking system is down as we all know that technology is not always reliable and no one is manning the office to save money.
willo
Imagining an electric vehicle crossing the Gibb River road is a fun fantasy anyone can have.
Leaders of the caravan industry should focus on more local achievements. Build quality and waitlists need to be addressed.
Try getting warranty issues or repairs sorted out on a great ocean road holiday, then think how you would manage in the Kimberly’s.
I agree Steve. The caravan manufacturing & repair industry need to get over their ‘Rough enough is good enough’ mentality and seek to emulate the quality standards of the automotive industry. The NCIA has far more pressing things to concern itself with rather than daydreaming about electric vehicles in the Kimberly.
Point of agreement; The caravan industry use unpaid labour (Owners) to assess quality control issues and then duck for cover when confronted. My local built van had the manufacturer displaying a Sterling effort to disavow liability for low grade gel coat on both side walls. Finally took care of the problems at my expense
Where once it was our older generation traveling this big land of ours. It’s becoming be more that the younger generation have realised the fun and enjoyment that can be had. They are selling up buying vans and enjoying the not so grey era but this golden era
Sorry but I think the simple life is always best…..please don’t bring too much of your clever (?) technology into this simplistic lifestyle….we travel simply to get away from it all.don’t spoil it all!
Totally agree, it seems that these caravan parks are willing to take your money but not be present on arrival. I would much rather be welcomed on arrival by a real person who is willing to spend a bit of time chatting and answering questions on local attractions. Would rather free camp otherwise.
I think that we’re about to enter a golden age of crowded carvanning.
We leave our city home towing our caravan to get away from it all.
Unfortunately its going to be all out there from now on.
I do indeed see US entering a golden age of caravanning. We are mid 70s, fit as 2 fiddles and about to pick up our new Avan. We are experienced vanners hoping for 10 years of getting away for 3 months a year plus intermittent short breaks between. I disagree though that it is a cheap holiday – it will run down our super to just enough to see us through our very old age. Hopefully. If we dont get to live the entirity of this dream, we will take what we can when we can and enjoy it while it lasts.
Caravan travel would be entertaining a golden age if the cost of fuel was a lot cheaper.
Utterly ridiculous puff piece meant to hypnotise us all into thinking that 1) the aus govt is a friend to travellers and 2) electric vehicles are the bees knees. It is still illegal to sleep in a vehicle purpose built for sleeping unless you find one of the handful of govt approved spots. Or else you are just paying rent same as anyone else. The utter stupidity of getting a knock on your window in the middle of nowhere from police fining you for the crime of sleeping in a purpose built car in the middle of an empty outback is still breathtaking. And on top of that they are going to spend taxpayers money to try promote incredibly destructive electric vehicle technology (where do you get the materials to make the batteries from?) in the hope we all abandon out reliable, working petrol cars. You’d think grey nomads would be old enough and wise enough to see through this sort of bs by now.
I have yet to see where they are going to get the recharging capacity for all of these fantastic electric tow capable vehicles.
And the very, very expensive short life replacement battery for the ev’s. As for crossing Gibb River with EV, just where is the infrastructure going to recharge the vehicle. And who is going to service these things? Takes weeks or months to get white goods and other things serviced in regional and remote areas. In the words of the great Darryl Kerrigan… “Tell em they’re dreaming!”
also battery packs are under the car Debrie hitting them damages them and causes them to go up in fire and once a battery is on fire it cannot be put out it will just keep reigniting read in
article on a new tesla going up in flames
Keep it simple and reliable. We like to get away from it all, not take it all with us. Provide open space near or in a small town to overnight and we will walk in to have lunch at the pub. Maybe even stay a while, buying food and food, even visiting local attractions if we feel welcome.
Near 1770 we read of a remote town that provided free camping on their day time parking lots next to a park and playground and toilets. The little shops loved us all, after being closed during covid and welcomed us, so did the hotel. They got a full carpark most night, campers were so grateful, parked quite close to each other and spent money there.
As much as electric vehicles are being pushed upon us I fell anything but commuting in the city is still a long way off. After reading a real world tow test of the much lauded F150 lightning all electric pick up and the owner realising he loses 60% of range when towing was an eye opener. As is known, charging and discharging shortens the batterys life so doing it 60% more will shorten it much faster. Bring on hydrogen vehicles and infrastructure for transport, long haul and towing in my opinion..
I’m thinking larger batteries with a very light caravan. Not sure if hydrogen will become a reality, but Australian government seems keen. Might be just Toyota’s dream.
Totally agree, electric vehicles towing a 3 ton caravan is just a fantasy
Phil, you’ve absolutely nailed it! EV technology is nowhere near achieving realistic towing expectations, not in Australia at least, and the poor results coming from Ford’s wizbang ‘Lightning’ only serve to reinforce this. Hydrogen is the future, its already proving its worth in the heavy vehicle sector and it seems only natural that it will filter down to heavy towing applications.
I think before everyone jumps on the electric car bandwagon they should do a bit of research. Electric cars are still using natural resources for the battery and other components.
Lithium batteries are not easily recycable. Charging stations in remote areas will need generators which in turn will most likely need diesel to run.
How many people will have a few spare hours to sit and wait their turn at a charging station and then wait again while the car charges.
There are plenty more reasons to be wary of electric cars but this is some food for thought which needs to be addressed before this new fad becomes the next nightmare.
You can come to many conclusions doing research, batteries can be recycled, they do use natural resources, but I think there will be more eco friendly sodium batteries in the future, but you’ve got to start somewhere. EVs use thousands less components than ICE vehicles and are way less likely to break down. There’s a chip oil generator on the Nullarbor to charge EVs, they could add solar and wind to this. Charging is getting quicker, 15 – 30 minutes, plenty of time for something to eat and toilet stop, or stop at a powered site over night and charge slowly with an on board charger, I’m waiting for NIO to bring out their swap stations. We can keep burning diesel or find a solution. Horse and cart? Too much methane.
The chip fat charger takes 20 litres of used oil to charge one Tesla.
I hope everyone is going to be buying lots of hot chips so they can recharge their EV’s.
The charger is only a 50kw/hr charger too, so for a F150 that will take about 2 hours 20 minutes and 30 litres of oil to charge.
The practicalities of towing any remote distances with an EV are just not there.
Other battery tech is nowhere near production for vehicles and is unlikely to be in the near future. Sodium batteries have too many side issues to solve before they could be considered for use in a vehicle.
I’m with you Gaye. Doesn’t anyone notice we still BURN a lot of BROWN COAL to charge these “environmentally friendly ” electric vehicles. And how is diesel STILL around 50 cents per litre more than petrol?? Australian government is not Australian traveller friendly.
The Grey nomads of now will not be around when electric towing becomes a reality.
But we also burn coal to extract oil, to burn the oil importing the oil to burn the oil distributing the oil to finally .. burn the oil.
It’s an awfully inefficient distribution chain. If we are going to use natural resources at least lithium is mined I. Aus.
Come on people, consider a nice long cruise somewhere 🙂
Yeah…nah.
And catch covid!
Lets get rid of people altogether.
The best parks are where you get greeted and someone escorts and helps you park.
That’s service. No one will even come check how things went for you.
The same thing when you ho to restaurant and have to order on an app. Not very personalised.
It’s just a shame caravan retailers and manufacturers don’t take ownership of the problems they create by faulty workmanship and inferior products used to make a quicker dollar. I will never visit my arrogant and dismissive retailer ever again even if it costs me to adopt that stance. Quick to sell, even friendly. Now I own the van they don’t give a damn and even hung up on me when the clock struck 4.oopm because it was the end of the service managers day.
An electric suv that can tow a 3500-4500 van the same (or close to the same) distance as current vehicles, with the ability to easily recharge, is likely many years off. The closest thing currently available (overseas only) can barely go a 150kms and takes hours to recharge. Oh yeah, that sounds golden!!
CEO needs a lesson in customer interaction
Technology is good but human interaction is better
Who ever said .Gee wasn’t that sensor and computer great to talk to
I agree with u Phil
I will tell you a wonderful story of the golden years of caravanning. In 1936 my Grandfather, Grandmother, my Mum (10) and her sister (12) left Victoria in a 1928 A model ford and a home built 12ft. caravan and headed for Qld.for the winter. They free camped all the way including the Snowy Mts. and on reaching Qld. stayed for 3 months in a caravan park on the waterfront at Southport. My Grandfather said it way 2 shillings and sixpence a week and it had a tap! During this time my mum and her sister went to school at the Star of the Sea convent. My Grandfathers hobby was photography and he took many pictures of this trip and used the little caravan as a dark room to develop his photos. The caravan bug has rubbed of on my wife also and we have done hundreds of thousands of klms. around our magnificent home of Australia. God bless you all and stay safe. Shane and Robyn Bell
Great story Shane and Robyn
Oh dear, not sure that I want to meet so many cranky old grey nomads. I’ll be looking out for happy, hopeful and appreciative Boomers.
LOL
No point in getting older if you’re no getting smarter. These people have just seen more of real life and have learnt.
Just another point of view on electric vehicles
Lexus let the cat out of the bag by estimating the replacement of batteries after a reasonable life of 10 years is approximately $40,000
What would be the value of these vehicles after the batteries approach the end of their useable life
That $40,000.00 is a load of codswallop. The prime cost is from a paltry $7,000.00 to as much as $15,000.00 for a rebuilt unit of the higher capacity.
For a lot of us oldies, the good travelling days are over….too many out there now, all with total information about everywhere….no more secret spots…no more seclusion….most of them have more stuff in their vans than they do at home….and some show little respect for others…..just saying..
I totally agree, very little respect for anyone these days, pul up in a c nice quiet spot. Only to find someone comes in with stereo blaring, very loud voices, and foul mouths
What a joke the caravan industry as a whole is putting out very poor workmanship.
You pay a $100. + for a van and most use the same suppliers but don’t listen to the customers when things go wrong they should be trying to improve what they make now.
Gibb River Road in a Electric four-wheel-drive what a joke. Reading this article is pure fantasy!!
yep to add to that many 4×4 have such sensitive computer components that an ungraded Gibb River Road sees them fail quickly too )done a bone shaking trip on the Gibb ,left the van behind and took a tent )
You will never see an electric 4wd pulling a caravan across Australia unless you have electric charges set up every 150kms it’s simply impossible. Caravan build quality and load weights education should be the focus along with more camping areas is needed.
Younger people are travelling more with their children. Parks have to adapt to the children factor. Games rooms camp kitchens need to also have water parks ,jumping pillows ,play areas and for the adults ,cafe with good ☕ coffee.
Hmm praising up the towing abilities of the American EV utes? Check out TFL Truck on YouTube. EV’s have a long way to go before they can successfully take up the Australian Nomad duties
We all love a road trip but the suggestion to bring speedlimits down even further exhausts me just think about it.
Getting your towing combination up to speed just to go 100-80-50-60-80-70-50-80 in a matter of 10km is tiring and coming back with a fine because you missed one of these makes it even worse.
You do realise that all these charge points for future electric vehicles will still be coal or even diesel generator based? The government campaigned hard for us to switch to solar for 35c/Kw and when you did the solar companies now offer you 9c/Kw.
Going to be a long time before you can get a vehicle to pull a caravan cheaper and faster than filling up on petrol or diesel.
I remember the flying car ads too.
Hydrogen not electric vehicles is the way to go and cheaper. Caravan parks are too dear now they just keep puting the price up, for a little bit of electricity and hot water.
Across the Gibb in an electric vehicle?? Tell them they are dreaming!, Have lived in the Kimberley’s and have done that track in a hilux. Did 3 tyres and the speedo needle fell off because of the corrugations. Go figure.
It’s very hard to find a place that hasn’t been invaded by people of all ages or polluted by such. Give us a place where there are no jumping castles, no water slides, no playgrounds and equipment that we’re not going to use but still have to pay for but is clean and quiet should we decide to be public. On the other hand we are happy to go into a mates paddock and camp in peace with the sheep and clear skies. Keep that diesel flowing for the V8 internal combustion engine!
Joined the Park Family end of March this year…except only have my car…warm and cosy to sleep in
Foremost before what’s best for towing Government NATIONALLY needs to introduce standard laws for drivers TOWING THESE LARGER CARAVANS.Not many of grey nomads have foggiest of how to park these vehicles and yet they arrive to a Park having just had been able to travel around 100km/h with a high powered vehicle needed to balance up weight ratio when they can’t even reverse.
Bygone semitrailer were this length and drivers required training and licences. Grey nomads although most will never admit it have reduced reaction ability…reduced assessment of speeds and distances required for safe overtaking…WHAT A MIX
PS..THE QUALITY OF CAMP KITCHENS AND AMENITIES IS FANTASTIC…STANDARDS BEING SET ARE WAY ABOVE WHEN FAMILY HOLIDAYS WERE SPENT IN CABINS WITH THE KIDS
I have HC licence and proud of my reversing of my 13mtrs of 4×4 and van. I drive to the road conditions and the drivers around me, particularly the ones that like to test my reflexes.
Have often slept in a car overnight, but hell, I prefer to sleep in our caravan bed, use the onboard toilet, have a hot or cold shower as required at the other end of the van before my morning coffee and breakfast, all regardless of the weather.
Never seen many high speed reverseing accidents with caravans even when driven by in experienced
Drivers. But have seen alot of trucks
Involved in alterations with the driver having the highest licence qualification, Let all have patience, and not throw the first stone.
Sorry, lost me on the first mention of electric vehicle’… that is never going to cut it
Woah, slow down.
Let’s start by getting a national standard for the caravan industry.
One overwhelmed trades person managing a factory full of labourers who have little to no experience, slapping together then delivering low standard, unfinished caravans at an extreme price tag, is this okay?
Taking a brand new van back to have it assesed, they aren’t surprised by what they see 10+ issues. Ensure they will fix it because they know whats best, they built it.
I suggested a reputable independent company to carry out the works, they said if the quotes to high they wont approve it, knowing the amount of time it would take to complete the job properly.
I’m not excited to see our brand new van back from being “fixed”.
To pull our 12’ MDC Camper van from Perth to anywhere outside of WA, or the Pilbara, Kimberleys, etc, costs thousands of dollars in Diesel. Distances are great and the best locations very remote. No recharge points for electric 4×4.
Much cheaper to go overseas, so the ‘so called’ Golden age is rubbish. Yet another government dreamer. How about subsidised fuel for retirees as granted to primary producers to encourage us spend our money in Australia?
Yes, subsidised fuel for retirees would be great. There is no effective public transport where I live – if I want to catch one of the 2 coaches to either of the towns that are approx 60kms from me then I have to walk too far to get the bus stops both ways and if I go to Warrnambool (2 1/2 hrs drive) then I have to stay overnight before returning home. Its ludicrous …. they are spending billions upgrading road systems in the urban areas that have very effecient and convenient public transport and ignoring those of us in rural areas …. unless you are a famer and they always have new cars and never seem to be doing it hard. There used to be a train track behind my place but they stopped the trains and pulled the tracks up in the late 80’s …. the person who made that decision should be forced to live out here for a few years. I understand subsiding the truck industry (private concerns) over the rail industry (public benefit) but there is no accountability for poor decision making in government – they should have been able to anticipate the future road problems, that’s presumably why they pay so much money to (private) consultants. Trucks are doing more damage to our road, not the caravans and with bigger loads = more powerful trucks = fewer drivers managing the big rigs, so why are they supporting this? I realise this is ot but …. its all related …
I think these EV trucks capable of pulling big vans will not work in Australia like they will in USA bc we have roads of nothing but dust. Sure you’ll be able to travel roads like you see on the east coast but 4wheel driving as we like to do will end
Forget about EV’s. Pulled into Canberra to pick someone up from airport tomorrow morning and guess what, not one of four commercial parks within a 20k radius had a booking for one night. Only wanted 2 nights. So be it, have a SC 4×4 MH and found a very nice blue metal motel on outskirts of Queanbeyan. The industry is not serious about promoting RV travel and the associated economic benefits. Grab a headline by telling about an EV heading down the GBR. Get paid big money for those grabs.
I can’t wait, I’ll soon have a suitable vehicle and a 22′ off road caravan. I am going to spend my retirement discovering our own backyard. Up to six years is on my mind to see all of Australia properly. I’m looking forward to fitting out my tow vehicle for off grid survival. Bring it on, I’m ready now.
I think a lot of parks are just ripping people off craming them in and over charging for what you get and some councils are starting to do the same instead of catering for the self contained travellers not being so harsh with stupid rules about grey water after all it just blooming water
The only way that an electric tow vehicle will work in Australia for many years, is have a petrol generator in the car to recharge when the batteries go flat!
I realise that business seam to be in a constant state of improvement and reinvention but if they took the time to understand what is really important and read the many reviews left but the travelling public it’s mostly price, cleanliness of ammenities and the friendliness of staff. Keep it simple
I think I will just stick to my 1993 Toyota 80 series Landcruiser, bought it new and done 420k with no problems, being petrol it likes a drink though. Tows my 16 ft Jayco well
The caravan industry needs to improve in quality control and warranty work first and it needs to be government regulated as they have proven they can not do it on their own, most dealers even give wrong advice and most vans have wrong weights on them.
Each new van should be weighed on a weigh bridge before customer is given the van and a copy of weight report handed over to client.
I am constantly amazed you can buy a toaster buy a car and if faults occur there are avenues that usually result in repairs or replacements even BUNNINGS never argue about replacing faulty goods but buy a van or a house there seems to be little recourse to get faults fixed .I bought a van and took it back for over heating wheel bearings on first trip while being repaired other parts were damaged dumb things The rear camera did not work they broke a stabilizing leg .when the radio stopped working I just replaced it (which is what I think most caravan sales companies rely on, Customer will fix it ) I like my van and have done 30,000 plus ks in it but would never take it back to the company that sold it.
We need more caravan parks and bays not tricky dicky ‘smarts’. Gone are the days where you could front up and be confident you could get a bay in a van park. There are so many ‘covid come lately’ vanners out there booking is nearly obligatory if you want a bay and spontaneity is a byegone.
I’m sorry but the caravan industry needs to get the fundamentals right before daydreaming about EV’s et al. A genuine body that supports us, the end user, from shoddy workmanship and the seemingly impossible task of getting warranty work done would be a good first step. Our dealer complains about the lack of support from some of the manufacturers, no wonder it’s difficult for us.
Parks charging a small fortune and offering second rate facilities…
There’s more but for another time.
I have tried booking on-line through Camps Aust but when I arrived at the Park, the manager advised they never bother to look at that website so didn’t have the booking. Luckily they had a site available for us.
Well that was fantasy piece on EVs and soul less roboparks.
I want my 2 minutes back.