The caravan park and camping ground industry has reinvented itself by increasingly focusing on cabins and on-site vans, and new research shows the strategy is paying dividends.
Industry research firm IBISWorld, says that improving facilities for families and other specific tourist groups has meant van parks are becoming a more important component of total tourist accommodation in Australia.
“The Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds industry survived the economic slowdown in better shape than other tourist accommodation providers, by offering a combination of low-cost and high-quality accommodation”, said IBISWorld industry analyst Alen Allday.
The industry is estimated to generate $1.31 billion in revenue during 2011-12, up 1.1% for the year due to higher prices offsetting slightly weaker demand from domestic and international tourism. The IbisWorld report says the provision of long-term sites at low cost helped industry revenue in the past five years when housing prices boomed and rental payments escalated.
It says that new quality facilities are usually available at lower tariffs than competing hotels and motels, while still offering attractive profit margins. Long-term site numbers and site capacity levels are expected to continue to decline at a slow, steady rate in future years.
Domestic visitor numbers are anticipated to remain relatively stable, while international visitor numbers will decline due to the high Australian dollar. “The continuing escalation in overseas travel by Australians due to the strong exchange rate is also dampening domestic travel demand,” said Mr Allday.
The report says that while the total number of industry establishments is falling, this has been among the long-term resident caravan parks (more than three months stay and sometimes used as permanent residence), as well as those designed for shorter staying tourists and visitors.
