While it is a common complaint that many caravan parks are effectively squeezing tourists out as they become dominated by cabins or by permanent residents, there are signs that at least some parks are eager to redress the balance.
The Coraki Riverside Caravan Park, south west of the New South Wales town of Ballina, is a case in point. After taking over its management late last year, Richmond Valley Council said although the park was supposed to be for tourists, it had developed into a permanent residency with substandard structures.
The council set about removing a lot of permanent residents, as well as repairing the amenities block, fixing the drainage, upgrading the power, sealing internal roads, putting up new signage, and numbering sites.
While prices have since risen 20%, the council says that – at $30 a night for two people for a powered site – it is still very competitive when compared with other parks in the area.
However, local media reports that, since the newly renovated park re-opened, it has been hugely under-used.
“Since the removal of the permanent residents we admit there will be short-term pain for businesses,” Richmond Valley Council General Manager, John Walker, told the Express Examiner newspaper. “We need to market the park (for tourists and short-term visitors) and none had been done prior to the Christmas season.”
Mr Walker said there would now be increased marketing of the park, with grey nomads being one of the key groups it would be seeking to attract.
Many local businesses which have suffered since permanent van park residents moved out will be eager to greet new visitors to the town, which is situated at the junction of the Richmond and Wilson Rivers.
The owner of the nearby SPAR supermarket, Cheryl Painter, told the Express Examiner that, with numbers down at the park, her business had been hit hard.
“The caravan park was full every weekend until they closed it for renovations,” she said. “Since re-opening, the park hasn’t been full once.”
why don’t caravan parks be creative in their pricing strategy…I know of parks where now they market directly to self contained vans/motor homes and offer $10/night for a couple, unpowered in a open area within the park…with full use of amenities. I’m not sure what the draw cards are for this specific park, but if it’s a long way from anything….then may be an issue?
Totally agree Julie,
as a self contained motorhome, all I need is a bit of flat ground.
Unfortunately Councils aren’t very good at running businesses nor are Show Societys, They have no business skills. Lets look at what is known about the CP in question..It has 20 powered sites and they charge $30 per night for a van with 2 people that = a potential to earn $600 a night..If they only get an average of 3 vans a night thats only = to $90 per night or $4.50 per site.. If they had someone running it there that had half a business brain they would try to increase the average site value by making it more attractive to stay there maybe go down to $15 a night until they had their average up much higher then maybe sneak the price up a little at a time till their park got better known..Coraki after all is off the beaten track and it wouldn’t have much passing traffic, they need to get the word out and the best way to do that is to make it attractive for travelers to go there..
My thoughts also and you express them very well…thankyou.
Keep in mind that Coraki CP isnt pet friendly. Not when I passed through
At 30 bucks a night, I certainly won’t be going out of my way to visit but /i agree with Bob V. if they charged less and or catered better for self con tained travellers they’d have a better chance. I for one certainly can’t afford $30+ a night to park up and is why I mostly free camp, but I jump at opportunities to get some creature comforts at 10 to 15 bucks a night.
I agree entirely. If the price is right, we would stay a lot longer and be of some economical benefit to the area. I am forced to pay $30 per night in Bourke even though Im working here. The owner doesnt want long term residents or dogs at all so keep that in mind when you come to Bourke.
I am led to believe that there are two CP’s in Bourke, one accepts pets the other does not but $30 per night is too much for a self contained camper.
$30 is waaaaay to expensive, that’s why nomads aren’t going there.
If it is Council run, and Council are interested in improving patronage of the local traders, turn the park into a free (or nominal fee) camp for self contained vehicles and we will be there.
Have councils no brains? Please don’t answer that. Of course more and more parks will empty. Grey Nomads are looking for a piece of land, and willing to pay $10 a night. Why don’t councils realise they are only cutting their throats? Tell you what, though, this could be a new business opportunity for anyone with a piece of land to spare!!!!! I think Id be buying plots of land that cant be built on all the way along the coast if I could. No amenities but $10 per night and checked for no rubbish left.
Not everything is free or nominal but $15 to $20 for self contained would be closer to the mark.
I agree about the $15 to $20. This to me is a reasonable amount, $30 is way too much. I do like the out of the way places. More advertising is needed.
G’day
No Frills sites at No Frills prices … for those travellers whose van / vehicle has shower & toilet & some power is one of the long-long overdue ideas that the caravan parks simply don’t seem to understand
Our van gets plugged into 240v about once every 18 months ~ we are ‘lucky’ and have lots of solar + lots of battery and just about everything inside is 12v or gas …. only the aircon is 240v & it’s used for maybe 3-4 days every 18 months or so
So offers of $30pn for a powered site are meaningless to us as we’d never use them
Phil
Phil, you seem to have the power issue covered but where do you get your water from? Peter
We are fully self contained… ..hold on a sec…… No we are not….. as we do not have anyway of disposing of our grey water. I doubt that the council/s may allow us to us a container and then spread the water over the ground. We are looking at a grey water tank installation.
Jay&Dee
Have just visited the website for Coraki Riverside Park, and found that they ARE pet friendly and their rates are $18 to $25 per night. Perhaps more research should be taken before comments are posted.
Hi Jackie, I went through in November/December and was told at the on the phone from the pub who runs it that they dont take dogs so please dont think Im not up with my info. Maybe its changed in such a short period of time. Maybe there are 2 parks there?
As John said, we all self-contained except for the greywater and thus have not free camped. We have a mind to sometimes, but really, I like the security of a van park. We don;t mind $30 a night if the park and facilities are good and, especially, clean. Prefer to pay $25 but appreciate the owners/managers are running a business and have to not only make a living but also receive a return for capital outlaid.
At last a touch of empathy/sanity. We own a small caravan park on the Atherton Tablelands, dog friendly, and charge $22 for an unpowered site with the 7th night free. This is not a free ad, I just want to point out we would love to charge our guests less, we don’t have a children’s playground or swimming pool to maintain. However, we do have 10 acres, half of which has to be mown and whipper-snipped regularly.
We do have 15 wheelie bins and 8 recycling bins which attracts a hefty fee from the council. We have to pay $350 a year just because we are registered. We buy wood for our camp kitchen open fire at $100 a trailer load, which is also used for the camp fire outside. We also have a gas barbecue, 3-burner gas jets, a microwave, kettle and toaster, waffle irons and board games. We pay a cleaner to keep the loos sparkling, and the showers, and whipper-snip all the banks. Now those people who want to stay here for $10, they’d be welcome, but would we want to stand guard and say you can’t come in our camp kitchen – because that’s where you’d want to be sitting around the fire on a cold winters night with a wine. Would we have to put locks on the loos so you wouldn’t have the inconvenience of driving to the nearest dump point? Everyone loves our park as it is. Those people who can’t afford to stay with us are missing so much. Thank you Kev for understand we have to make a living. It’s a living we love and we are living our dream. Sadly it’s on the market now after 10 years of fun because we are getting a bit old. We don’t regret one minute.
Anything over $25 per night for a powered site in a basic council owned and run park is just gouging. They don’t pay rates or land tax so they can keep their prices down if their C E O isn’t being directed by hospitality owners in their district as is the case where I used to live in the wheat belt in Western Australia. One of the councillors told me last time I visited that this was the case and I explained to her that put your prices up over $25 and people will still come but they won’t stay more than a couple of nights.
I think many councils expect all of their parks to be earning big $$, they see council parks in places like Brisbane making $50 a night for unpowered sites and think `hey heres a cash cow, we got a caravan park’
What they dont realise is that places like Coraki have almost no interest to travelers- it’s not on a major highway, there are no tourist attractions within comfortable distances and it (as of last christmas when I went past it to me mums place) is still seriously substandard of even basic needs- what infrastructure is there is years old and council obviously hasnt spent a cent in maintenance since it was installed.
The only people who were willing to pay were the permanents (as it was a cheap way of living, same as I currently still do until that day (YAY) I retire and hook the van up for the long haul)
Now the permanents are booted, no tourists are coming and council will likely close it entirely as so many others have closed because of unrealistic council expectations… and no income at all since the permanent residents got the boot
YAY- what a win!!!!
We passed through Coraki some time early last year. We didn’t stay at the park but did have a look and put it on our mental list of places to return to. It looked so nice and peaceful, right on the riverbank. We did read that it is a small park, this suits us just fine. Hopefully we will be able to pay a visit at the end of this year. Perhaps if there are permanents in van parks, their dwellings should comply with safety and aesthetic looks. Some permanent structures are an eyesore.
Karen and i spent two nights there this wekend.
$30.00 power and water. 2nd night free
What a nice quiet place. Sandy beach on the river to swim in.
Clean amenities. Walk everywhere. Great food at very reasonably price at the two rivers cafe. We will go back again.