More people than ever are taking caravan and camping trips
New figures from Tourism Research Australia show that caravan and camping is continuing to increase in popularity, with grey nomads leading the way,
According to the latest domestic tourism snapshot, Australians spent a total of 54.5 million nights’ caravan and camping in the year ending March 2019, marking a 6.5% increase from the previous year.
The total number of trips came to 12.9 million in an increase of 8.5% from the previous year.
When it comes to total nights, older non-working ‘grey nomads’ demographic are leading the way with 32% of total nights, and the family segment at 30%.
The figures show that regional destinations are benefiting hugely from the boom in caravan and camping trips. In 2018-2019, some 30% of all trips in regional Australia involved caravan or camping.
While on these trips, many caravan and campers also opted out to eat at local cafes or restaurants. This was the most popular activity for the year, with 6.7 million caravan and camping trips involving eating out.
Growth was experienced across all states and territories in terms of trips, with double digit growth recorded for Northern Territory, South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland in terms of trips. New South Wales and Western Australia also experienced growth, albeit at a slightly lower rate.
While grey nomads spent the most nights away in total, the figures show that the family segment (i.e a parent with a child living at home) accounted for the largest numbers of trips at 4.4 million, with the younger midlife demographic (no children) following with 4.2 million trips.
Having been on the road for 2+ years I can certainly say that the grey nomads are very beneficial for regional areas. Any town which is RV friendly is always on our list and any offering a freedom camp is a great place to stop. I think of Bulahdelah and Gundagai (NSW) Moonta (SA) Beenleigh in Qld, although not really regional persay. I am disappointed at the towns which frown on the budget conscious travellers but totally understand their attitude when looking at how some other people, including backpackers treat a camping site. Travelling is a lovely way to see the country and experience all there is to see as well as helping the businesses and towns out there.
To meet the growing we need more and or larger quality caravan parks that have the basic amenities grey nomads need, not all the fancy stuff. One major factor that determines if my wife and I stop in a location is the quality of the caravan park, and when we do stop longer we spend more much more money in the local community.
The figures don’t surprise me with the younger people with disposable incomes coming in above the older Grey Nomads.
Each quarter, a hospitality business has to submit report to the Bureau of statistics. persons stayed and gross earnings for that 3 months. If you free camp you aren’t counted. Malcom, back in 2006 we looked at starting a caravan park from scratch and the estimate for around 50 sites was approximately 3 million dollars. How much do you reckon 13 years later?
Popularitly is growing. Money spent is growing..Number of manufacturers is growing.
Growing the need for enforcement of Caravan/Motor Home buidling Rules & Regulations to be enforced by an independant non-industry based regulator.
Just a small input here. I do 40 to 50% freecamping, probably 30 to 40% at showgrounds and the rest at basic C parks. If we all had to spend our money at parks all the time, a large number of us wouldn’t travel to appreciate this great country of ours. Just saying.