Grey nomads to the rescue!
It’s official. The grey nomad phenomenon is keeping Australia’s flagging tourism sector afloat.
New Tourism Research Australia statistics show a quarter of domestic caravan and camping visitors are active seniors aged 55-70. And – compared with 2000 – trips by active seniors are up 90%, with spending up 77%.
Regional Australia has been the main beneficiary of the rise of the grey nomad. Federal Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson says the bush owes them a huge debt of gratitude.
“The industry directly employs over 10,000 people and, with around 90% of total caravan and camping nights spent outside Australia’s capital city tourism regions … these figures highlight how important this sector is to these regional areas,” he said. “The pressures of global competition and market shocks such as the GFC – not to mention the impact of floods, bushfires and cyclones – have made for a tough operating environment.”
Domestic travellers account for 91% of all caravanning and camping nights, and they also spent the lion’s share of the $7 billion spent on caravanning and camping last year.
While the high Aussie dollar has clearly frightened many international visitors away, Mr Ferguson told the Caravan, RV and Accommodation Industry of Australia conference it has also helped grey nomads by keeping fuel prices lower than they might otherwise have been.
“If the Australian dollar was at the average rate for the 10 years to 2011 – $0.79 against the US dollar – instead of $1.04, then our petrol would be approximately 27.9 cents per litre more than the current price,” he said. “The age of cheap energy is over – that is the harsh reality.”
And Mr Ferguson acknowledged that whole caravan and camping scene was undergoing a structural transformation.
“Gone are the days of parking the old Viscount caravan on any riverbank,” he said. “The facilities and options available at many of Australia’s holiday and caravan parks today, would make them unrecognisable to those of the 1950s or even 1980s.”
The Tourism Research Australia figures show the most popular camping destinations are: NSW 33%, Qld 21%, Vic 18.5%, WA 12.1%. As of June, 2010, there were 1,638 caravan parks (with 40 or more powered sites) in Australia. They boasted a total of 225,100 sites, with an occupancy rate of 53%.