The list of people who felt the economic pain of grey nomads being forced off the road is a long one. There were the caravan parks; the bakeries, cafes and petrol stations in regional communities; the tour operators; and then, of course, there were the recreational vehicle manufacturers and dealerships.
With so much uncertainty swirling around, particularly in the early days of the virus crisis, demand for new caravans and motorhomes understandably dipped considerably.
Caravanning Queensland chief executive, Jason Plant, said the decline was a dramatic one.
“It was looking like a really positive start to the year but then Covid hit and everything fell off a cliff,” he told the Courier-Mail. “Retail sales and traffic through dealerships just stopped dead.”
The situation was made worse by the fact that caravan shows – where many new orders are generated – were also unable to go ahead.
However, he said that things are now picking up dramatically, with some dealers were saying the weekends have been hectic with customers.
“We are really positive over the medium to long term because people will not be travelling overseas or going on that cruise,” Mr Plant told the Courier-Mail. “We hope there is a return to those holidays of the ’70s and ’80s when people would pack their children in the car and go an explore Australia … the government is pushing the domestic travel industry which is good.”
Mr Plant said the industry now wanted to see state borders reopened as soon as possible with reports grey nomads were waiting to get into Queensland for their annual pilgrimage north.
“A lot of parks and small towns rely on these grey nomads during the winter months,” he said.
If there are outbreaks of Covid 19 after the weekend”Black Lives Matter” rally’s then it will hit the fan.
We live in hope that Queendland borders will open mid July. However with the various protests in all major centres, may put that border opening in doubt, if the virus raises its head again.
Just ordered a New Age. Must be a bit of a backlog as van build isn’t till July. Build time 8 weeks. Looking forward to getting it.
Looking to buy a campervan. $20,000 or close to. Has to be auto-hubby only has one arm.