With the Victorian Government’ s ‘free camping’ initiative coming in to effect in a few weeks, there is growing concern that it could inadvertently spark a spike in ‘ghost camping’.
The phenomenon, whereby people book a campsite and then simply don’t show up, thereby denying others the opportunity to occupy the site, has been causing rising levels of angst in recent years.
And there are fears that the state’s free camping in national parks initiative, which comes in to effect on December 1, means there will be even less reason for people to cancel bookings when they change their plans due to poor weather or any other reason.
The Sentinel-Times newspaper which covers the South Gippsland and Bass Coast areas spoke to one very sceptical Fish Creek tourism operator.
Campers can get frustrated when they see a booked campsite remain unnoccupied. PIC: Cizza
“You’ve got people from Melbourne booking sites at all these camping grounds around the state, without having to pay any money, but what’s the incentive to turn up if there’s a poor weather report or something else happens?” he said. “They just won’t come, the sites will remain vacant … and people who would like to go on a holiday will miss out.”
In State Parliament, the Member for Eastern Victoria, Melina Bath MP, said she favoured the holiday voucher system proposed by the Victorian Caravan Parks Association, which offered the opportunity for low-income earners to get a subsidised holiday at the venue of their choice; whether it be a camping ground, motel or short-stay accommodation.
“People booking sites in national parks and state reserves and not turning up is a real possibility and potentially another unintended consequence of this ill-thought-out scheme more designed to get votes than really helping people get a holiday who need it most,” she said.
Ms Bath told the Sentinel-Times that she had asked in State Parliament whether any modelling had been done on the likely impact on caravan park operators and local economies.
“I’ve spoken to caravan park operators at Marlo and Orbost in East Gippsland and also at Waratah Bay and they’re concerned they’ll not only lose bookings but also be pressured to drop their rates in response to this,” she said. “I’m also concerned that, in a cost-of-living-crisis, this initiative is not supporting the people on low incomes it is supposed to be supporting … would they have the caravans and camping equipment they need to take advantage of this?”
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Paying for a site when making a booking will eliminate this problem.
Free usually means you don’t have to pay.
Unfortunately, that means free not to turn up
Lawn hill was a classic example of this , to stay in the national park side of lawn hill it was just a small nominal fee of just a few dollars , people were booking for 2-3 days and not turning up .
A discussion I heard once while sitting in a Darwin CPark pool between 3 female nomads went like this:
Lady 1 – We book as we go but if we don’t go there we just don’t bother cancelling.
Lady 2 – People like you hog sites.
Lady 1 – Well, that’s how we travel.
Lady 3 – People like you s@#t me & are so selfish.
It is here all 3 went there own way, never to share happy hour I guess.
Theres’s plenty of nomads, both gray and not so gray, who have that exact same self-entitled, uncaring, selfish, mean attitude as “Lady 1”. Sometimes they are parked right next to you, it’s funny though how their true colours soon show through.
I hope they’re reading this article and the comments! I hope Lady 1 has had a good long think about her selfish attitude!!
Maybe what’s required is a subroutine on the booking site preventing any ‘overlap’ bookings per vehicle rego. To stop groups sharing overlapping bookings the rego numbers of all vehicles in the group must be submitted and any unrecorded vehicles that show up must be penalised or banned from bookings for the balance of the season and/or the next season as appropriate.
Unfortunately, ill thought out mind ‘bubbles’ like this proposal are all too common in the bureaucratic intellect.
The current level of Ghost camping will certainly increase with this initiative.
As a Victorian resident I welcome the chance to camp for free but there needs to be a simple system to cancel.
Maybe a text a week before the due date asking if you are still coming (A bit like doctors use) would prompt people to cancel if they are not coming.
Having said all that the Victorian government is in serious financial trouble and this initiative sees the government foregoing another $7.3 million in revenue.
I believe that a deposit lodged and refunded with a photo of the camper on site will be a workable option. The deposit could be held by NPs for multiple bookings on separate days and only when finished with travelling/camping does a camper seek refund. But in the mean time each booking has a reply with the photo validating each stay. NP would need to spruc up their booking site to accommodate and scan replies and pics. A challenge perhaps..
That is a good idea.
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This booking system would have to be one of the most stupid moves as far as genuine campers are concerned
but for the parks services it’s a win win situations
less people to look after
no fees to be collected
less rubbish to remove
at the time of booking take the full amount of camping fees then if they can’t make the camp site for medical or weather reasons a refund should be given
but just not turn up is depriving genuine camps of a holiday
also it stops people from being able to travel at their leisure and unable to stay even though the camp sites are empty
not a very good idea total against what the parks where originally set up for the people to enjoy at their leisure
where are all the funds going that are collected are granted to the parks services and if they say for better facilities how many campers caravans and motorhomes are now self contained and not needing all those facilities
I think if you book a site in any campsite you should either cancel or be fined. Even if you cancel late in the afternoon if gives others a chance to use the site.
People who don’t pay these fines or are multiple offenders should be banned from booking.
I have no problem with paying a fee based on the facilities offered. I don’t mind paying for site maintenance or toilet cleaning and this is often all we want, If I want a camp kitchen, pool, playground, laundry or other facilities I don’t mind paying for them either.
Maybe the easiest way is for parks to have designated camping spots on a first in basis?
First in basis to a camping spot doesn’t work for travellers travelling long distances so makes it unfair and hard to do forward planning.
Commenting on the original problem of phantom bookings.
If people do not have to pay they are more likely to not cancel. A photo of car registered on the site is a good suggestion. It could come with a condition that it has to be sent within a week (except in cases of emergency situation) of the departure date in case the location of the camp has not telephone coverage. Failure to do this would mean you have a 5 year exclusion at booking at any site in Victorian National or State Park.
Phantom bookings can also be made by local businesses to make people stay at their accommodation.
Offering cheap access to low income campers is the planned initiative. Many other govt based services run on a 2 tiered basis, full rate and concessional rate, freeing up the system completely could always attract misuse and abuse from the many selfish and entitled amongst us. Governments can use other methods to make touring and camping for low income people more affordable thereby optimising the user pays system
why not just employ Rangers to come around and collect fees it all goes to make the park better not rocket science
It’s extremely frustrating when you can not get a booking for a national park if they are free then make it first in then that’s your spot if you want to book in advance use a caravan park
I feel for the business and tourist operators who loose business because there is empty camp spots
Should be a fair system for everyone
NP’s and Wildlife Services are supposedly governed and administrated by intelligent and forward-thinking people. If that’s really the case, then why haven’t they come up with a solution? It’s surely not that difficult. If it’s beyond them, then pass the resolution process over to people who can do their job for them. There is no doubt that an issue exists here and many, many people have raised concerns over quite a long period of time. My suggestion is this: Conscript a dozen or so recent high-school graduates and an equal number of effected gray nomads and charge them with the task of resolving this issue. Which is obviously too complex for the NP&WS. Or, perhaps they just don’t care.