While the great grey nomad northward migration is well and truly be underway, early indications are that some older travellers have chosen to head to the airport’s international departures terminal instead this year.
Tourism Research Australia (TRA) data reports that more than 2.3 million Australians aged over 55 went on overseas holidays last year … twice as many as did so the previous year.
Peter Clay, the General Manager of Research and Insights at the Caravan Industry Association of Australia (CIAA) says that this significant upsurge comes on the back of increased savings due to interest rate rises, and the fact that – broadly speaking – older Australians are less impacted by mortgages.
Some campsites are a lot less busy than usual this year PIC: Cizza
And he says that, while demand remains strong for travel as a whole, there are certainly different travel behaviours in play that are affecting the camping and caravanning sector.
“We’ve seen a northern southern divide widen on the back of changing travel behaviour in the past year,” he said. “Southern Australia trips grew by 3% year on year and nights increased by 5%; Northern Australia trips fell by -13% and -21%.”
Queensland appears to have been affected quite significantly.
The TRA statistics show caravan, camping and cabin occupancy in the Sunshine State was 54.1% in April this year, compared to 62.5% in April last year.
Michelle Weston, the Chief Executive Officer of the Caravan Parks Association of Queensland, says those people who are on the road are generally taking shorter trips and so the further north you go, the more the decline in visitor numbers is being felt.
“The media reports about the cyclones and flooding are still impacting the travel decisions of our southern visitors with parks reporting cancellations for their peak winter months,” she said. “In good news, this means those people who have put off a North Queensland winter, thinking it would be too busy, this is a great year to take the big trip … to try the new destinations and to see Queensland when it is looking green and beautiful following the rain we received.”
And Ms Weston says she has no doubt that grey nomads will soon be back travelling in big numbers.
“While we understand the desire to travel overseas and see different locations, we would encourage all caravanners to hold on to their caravans so they can continue to explore Queensland,” she said. “In the years they travel overseas, this might be short weekends away and, for the years they stay in Australia, it will allow them to take a long leisurely trip throughout the regions.”
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We have arrived in Darwin yesterday having towed our van 4200km from Mandurah WA. It certainly does appear to be somewhat quieter than the past few years on the road. The caravan park here is definitely quiet. Maybe it’s the cost of fuel that has put people off?
We have travelled from Sydney to Karumba and now onto Cooktown. We have noticed free and low cost camping areas are very full. Caravan parks not so.
We’ve cancelled our usual 3 month Winter trip to the Capricorn Coast in QLD.
We’re heading to Outback NSW for 10 weeks instead.
Less people, sunny days & cold nights.
About to leave Vic for SA and then North Qld after spending a month in Europe – which is now twice as costly as it was in 2016. Looking forward to warmer days and we might head south again in November.