Caravan & Camping Industry Association NSW
Caravan & Camping Industry Association NSW (CCIA)

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New breed of campers increase demand for holiday parks

19 January 2009

New breed of campers increase demand for holiday parks

Caravan and camping tourism has experienced a boom this summer season with caravan and holiday parks reporting high occupancy, increased ‘first time campers’ and an over demand for sites according to the Caravan and Camping Industry Association of NSW (CCIA).

CCIA CEO, Barry Baillie, says occupancy has increased by up to 10% for many coastal holiday parks during summer and new campers are entering the market.

“It looks like a majority of coastal holiday parks in New South Wales are going to remain full up until the Australia Day long weekend, following a strong Christmas period.”

“Over the summer, there was a noticeable increase in people trying a caravan or camping holiday for the first time and many of them choosing to stay in larger tents and camper trailers.”

Mr Baillie said that preliminary research indicates that these trends are evident in a majority of coastal holiday parks in New South Wales for the summer period.

Kevin Sullivan, Group Manager of twelve Holiday Haven Tourist Parks in the Shoalhaven region, says that they have experienced more families and campers than ever before which unlike previous years, has filtered through to late January.

Caravan and camping sites at BIG4 Nelligen Holiday Park on the NSW South Coast were booked out over the Christmas ‘08 and January ’09 period and cabin accommodation was also booked out with holiday makers.

North Coast holiday parks have been equally popular with Dean Farnham, Manager of NRMA owned Darlington Beach Holiday Park in Umina reporting an average 10% increase in occupancy over the December and January period.

“We have noticed that we are attracting more travellers from Brisbane and the Gold Coast and many of these are travelling in camper trailers and compact caravans.”

Mr Baillie said that everyone deserves a holiday and with the current state of the Australian dollar and the global economy, it has never been a better time to take advantage of the excellent value offered by a caravan or camping holiday.

For more information on caravan and camping holidays, visit www.caravan-camping.com.au.

ENDS

Media Contact: Maria Crema t 02 9615 9960 m 0416 148 842 e maria@cciansw.com.au