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July 2017
 

Caravan parks attracting more Asian holidaymakers

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Parks attracting more Asian holidaymakers

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ASIAN holidaymakers are beginning to figure prominently in Australia’s regional caravan and camping industry, it has been revealed.

The first quarter of 2017 continued to show robust growth in international caravan and camping arrivals to Australia, growing by 10 percent to 368,490 visitors for year ending March 2017.

The increase is being primarily driven by the traditional markets of the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States, increasing by one percent, nine percent and 24 percent respectively on the previous year.

However, newer Asian markets are starting to make their presence felt in the caravan holiday parks around the country.

Figures show that during the last three years the average increase in visitors from China and Singapore was 21 percent and 34 percent annually.

Caravan Industry Association of Australia chief executive Stuart Lamont welcomed the news.

"The increase in Asian markets is having a positive flow-on effect for regional Australia as these visitors begin to seek out quintessential Australian experiences, such as a caravan or camping holiday," he said.

"Tourism Australia has identified Australia's nature as our biggest competitive strength, and in terms of our world-class beauty and natural environments we are the highest rating destination in our competitor set.

"A caravan or camping holiday is unrivalled in terms of closeness to nature and aligns perfectly with what international visitors are looking for when choosing a holiday destination.

"We expect to see further diversification in international markets and accompanying opportunities for tourism businesses in regional Australia."

Although international caravan and camping visitation to Australia has increased, overall nights are marginally lower than the previous year, falling by 0.2 percent to 5,075,815 nights.

This reflects a broader decline in the length of stay for British and French visitors to the country on the back of challenging economic and political environments in the European Union.

"While this indicates slightly softening conditions for these markets, with visitors choosing a shorter period of travel, they continue to increase in visitor numbers showing that a caravan and camping holiday in Australia is still high up in their travel aspirations," Mr Lamont said.