Hi The Landy
Not being a caravan
park person, and running a caravan
park not being a business I would choose, I can probably add very little.
Caravan parks need to be aware of their target market for the area – eg seaside holidays with lots of features to attract families and keep children occupied while Mum and Dad relax, or
Grey Nomads stopping for a day or two on the Big Lap where they want a quiet place, preferably permitting pets, with basic clean amenities costed to match the fewer family features.
Many
Grey Nomads can only afford a caravan
park once or twice a week, and without free in between, would have to stay at home hence never be customers of caravan parks.
Some of the travellers say they would pay a small amount; eg $5 or some even $10 for a secure ‘paddock’ for self sufficient, with access to
water disposal,
dump point and fresh
water fill. This however would be outside of the regulations for caravan parks, so they probably couldn’t do it even if they had the room and wanted to. Some councils or communities can, as ‘primitive
camping grounds’ outside of the town.
For myself, a patch in a caravan
park would not prove attractive, but may be chosen if we ‘needed to be there’ such as in a town for vehicle servicing, or a special tourist feature. If in a caravan
park, we often choose the unpowered section if they have one, which can be a large informal open area with not many caravans in it. We chose a rig which we could ‘get away from it all’ and go bush. Our nearest neighbour is out of earshot when at home, and we don’t need it any closer when we holiday.
“I do think there is a substantial risk of causing damage to our tourism
infrastructure by having councils compete with existing facilities”
I totally disagree with this statement. With a rapidly expanding mobile traveller market, there is room for both, and if the caravan
park is experiencing a downturn, then it is a marketing or not meeting the right target market issue. Free camps are catering for the new wave of additional customers with self sufficient rigs. This attracts more people to the town and everyone benefits. These new wave travellers were never going to be the caravan
park customers. Free and low campgrounds with minimal facilities are different to and not in competition with a caravan
park with all
services. Chalk and cheese.