Caravan & Camping Holidays Surge in Face of Economic Uncertainty

Caravan and camping holidays remain Australian’s first choice for customer focused product and value for money holiday offerings.  Caravan Industry Association of Australia (CIAA) has released the industry’s latest holiday and accommodation data showing strong surges in trips across the country.

Luke Chippindale – CIAA’s GM of Government Relations and Corporate Communications speaks with Win News on why Australians are still choosing the quintessential Aussie road trip even though international travel is back on the menu.

Numbers for the March quarter showed a strong surge in travel numbers with people embarking on 4.5 million trips (up 24%) around our beautiful country with and 18 million nights (up 22%) spent caravanning and camping.  That takes the annual rolling figure for trips to 15.5 million trips and 62.3 million nights and $11.2 billion in visitor expenditure.  Far surpassing the 2019 pre-covid figures of 14 million trips and 59 million nights.

Caravanning and camping is the number 1 provider of nights for holidays in the country in the March quarter, this means strong support for our regional and rural economies with 90% of trips taken in regional areas.  

“Growth in the industry is always great to see, but in the face of uncertain economic times, these numbers demonstrate the everlasting strength of our customer offering and our immense value for money proposition.”

“We’re continuing to see Australian’s love affair with their country grow, spending more and more time in our beautiful regional and rural towns.  That makes the growth even more encouraging, knowing that 89% of these trips are being spent in areas needing the support.”

Stuart Lamont – CIAA CEO

Australian’s love of road-tripping is evident in the demand for RV product, with approximately 800k registered RVs (30.3 caravans/campervans per 1000 people), they embody the adventurous spirit and more importantly are putting money directly into the hands of many regional small businesses.

“In a time when we haven’t seen international visitors return to our shores like we were told, it has been the caravan industry and it’s parks and holiday resorts across the country helping to provide economic relief through continued tourism dollars.  On average travellers spend $867 per trip in a caravan park, creating over $11.2 billion in visitor expenditure annually.”

Stuart Lamont – CIAA CEO

While we continue to see economic challenges ahead and a softening in consumer confidence, the caravan and camping industry remains the backbone of the domestic tourism industry and major contributor to the country’s economy despite headwinds, looking forward to continuing to build on the $27 billion worth of annual economic value to the Australian economy.

“It is clear to see that Australian’s are travellers, with the continued high costs associated with overseas travel and flailing international tourist figures we look continue to be the industry of choice for people wanting a getaway from their everyday.”

Stuart Lamont – CIAA CEO