QUEENSLAND'S beef capital seems unlikely to provide caravanners and other travellers with free overnight camping.

Rockhampton Regional Council has been considering a request from the Australian Caravan Club and the Campervan and Motorhome Club of Australia to become more RV-friendly.

But the authority has said it cannot oblige.

A report to last month's council meeting said there was "considerable resistance" from local caravan park operators, and Capricorn Tourism had also opposed the provision of free accommodation for RV owners.

In a letter to the council, Capricorn Tourism claimed the provision of free caravan, motorhome or camping sites within the council's borders would have an "irreversible negative impact" on the shire's 17 commercial caravan parks and the local community.

The council owns four of the region's caravan parks, two of which are "very profitable" though the others lose money.

The report said that without an expensive study, it would be impossible to quantify how much would be lost to commercial operators if the council created a 48-hour free camping ground for recreational vehicles.

The council already turned "a blind eye" to occasional overnight camping on land under its control.

"Council’s primary interest must be to support its local caravan park operators whose continuity is in the direct and long term financial interest of the wider community," the report said.

Although the council had to acknowledge the importance of catering for the needs of different driver tourism markets, it should not do so by burdening ratepayers with large and disproportionate costs, or by threatening the revenues of established local businesses.

"It is apparent that private enterprise is beginning to address the needs of the emerging self-contained traveller market," the report said.

"There is evidence of this in both Townsville and smaller regional centres such as Marlborough. It is far more prudent for council to wait for a private enterprise response for this market for stays longer than the recognised 20-hour rest centre stays currently offered throughout Queensland."

But the council did intimate it might consider making the Bruce Highway driver reviver facility at Yaamba, 36km from the city, suitable for 20-hour stopovers in line with Caravan Parks Association of Queensland guidelines.

One caravanner, who asked not to be named, questioned the council's concern for other businesses which could never benefit if RVers were not welcomed with free rest areas.

"The average caravanner or motorhomer will not stay in caravan parks in a town or city which does not have a rest area. They just move further along the road," he told Caravanning News.

This had been reinforced by the many postings in internet caravan forums.

"Therefore caravan parks which lobby a local authority not to set up a rest area are actually shooting themselves in the foot," he claimed.

"And the local authority is inadvertently helping the local caravan parks to reduce their income."

He said that in today’s very hard business times all traders needed as many customers as they could get.

"Caravan parks make for two percent of a city or town's gross business product. The other 98 percent goes to the rest of the traders ... the butcher, baker or candlestick maker. So if RVers do not stay the whole town or city misses out," he added.