The annual northward migration of Australia’s caravanners and motorhomers is under way in earnest … and the battle for a slice of the grey nomad economic pie is promising to be fiercer than ever.
Struggling rural communities are painting grain silos, erecting ‘big things’, and touting their ‘travellers welcome’ credentials as they seek to convince potential passers-by that they are the best place in the area to stop. However, with the grey grapevine growing in influence, many townships are realising that the promise of free or cut-price camping is the most persuasive ‘bait’ of all.
It’s no secret that a giant tug-of-war is taking place across the country between caravan parks which are fearful of the impact of free camps on their bottom line, and other businesses and sometimes councils which see the wider benefits of attracting more visitors.
For many years, the mining boom meant the needs of grey nomads and other travellers weren’t always top of some town’s priority list but the pendulum is beginning to swing. When the Town of Port Hedland Council in WA’s Pilbara region trialled time using the racecourse as an overflow RV camping ground, it reaped immediate results.
The Port Hedland Visitor Centre saw a 200% increase in foot traffic when the RV overflow campsite was announced, and it enjoyed one of its busiest seasons ever. Now, the council has decided to go one step further by making overflow camping free this year.
“Last year’s campground was a great success, with over $160,000 spent on local goods and services, we want to ensure this happens again,” said Mayor Camilo Blanco. “While the RV overflow campsite gave people a reason to stay a night or three in the town, what made their experience unique is the ability to get so close to industry, whether it be a 300,000-tonne iron ore carrier docking in our port or some of the longest trains in the world coming into Hedland to be unloaded.”
The decision to waive the nightly fee will result in an income loss of $20,000 for the council but it is confident the town will gain even more benefit, courtesy of the extra cash the extra visitors will spend on local goods and services.
However, while the showground camping will be free this year, it will now only open as an overflow site once all other formal campgrounds in the Port Hedland area reach 75% capacity.
“While we have reduced the price of camping to attract more tourists, we also keep in mind the fact that local businesses needs come first,” Mayor Blanco said. “With this in mind, we have also amended the capacity that these other campgrounds need to be at before the overflow opens from 50% to 75%.”
Mr Blanco said surveys conducted last year showed many travellers – who on average each spent $203 per person in the local economy – hadn’t been intending to stay in town until they heard of the low-cost camping
“For a long time, Port Hedland has been ‘off-limits’ to tourists because of the extremely high accommodation prices and a lack of tourist-friendly services and facilities on offer,” he said. “Now that the mining and construction industry has slowed down, we’re seeing a normalisation of prices and a growing interest in exploring other industries and avenues for town development.”
