Has the NRMA gone too far?

Wayne,

I'll think you will find that they bought the advertising and booking part of Getabout 4WD tours. Getabout are still running the tours as normal but without the overheads of advertising etc.

Cheers Kev

RACV used to run tours too - from what I saw it was pretty much just mechanical backup for outback 2wd trips.

Sounds like a good idea seeing that it's just an extenstion of what they have always provided. Mechanical backup & touring advice. The best bit is you have full NRMA mechanical backup within 5 minutes. As for will they be a good tour to go with well that as always depends on the experience of the individual tour leader.
Cheers Craig.............

Gday Wayne
Thanks for your company last WE.

The NRMA have been doing the caravan safaris for a couple of years now and they were with Getabout's help I understand, I guess to them that this is a natural progression, because road side service alone wont pay the bills and the insurance side was de-mutualised as you know, so somehow they need to "Pay the bills".
I guess it's like the beef about advertising dominating magazines, something must make the business pay its way, I do however appreciate where you are coming from Wayne, being in the business yourself and having a vested interest in what is going on. I feel that if Vic is doing his job correctly and I am sure he is this should not impact too heavily on Great Divide.

Thanks, Colin.

Yep - same as a lot of organisations - if the members let them, as the numbers grow, the board / committee will build an empire with the available funds ........ instead of giving the improved scale of economies back to the members in the form of reduced fees.
More staff, fatter salaries, more os trips, bigger buildings and on it goes.

Wayne - I'm pretty happy what NRMA is doing for caravanners.

There are many people who come new into caravaning at a pretty mature age, and to offer the facility of a tag along to teach people how to go about it, good road manners and all the other things about longer trips is a great service - especially as they seem to be making money out of it.

Even more importantly, they are buying caravan parks in areas that Developers would love to have to put up units. The number of parks is shrinking while the numbers of caravanners is growing. NRMA has preserved vulnerable (and popular) parks from this fate - and have contracted out the running of them to commercial operators.

I really reckon they are offering good services to members now.

Better than spending our money on lawyers as they weer doing for a few years there.

Max

I agree with your sentiments Max on NRMA buying some parks. A very good idea. However, I find it difficult to justify paying $8.00 per night extra (as a member) to stay at an NRMA owned park, when an equally rated park is virtually next door with similar quality facilities.

In that case, cost is the deciding factor. NRMA need to be competitive in their marketplace if they wish to succeed.