News

The latest research by Tourism Research Australia has revealed that camping and caravanning are playing a key role in the recovery of domestic tourism in Australia as its residents come to terms with the COVID travel environment.

The research showed that more than 1.9 million camping and caravanning holidays (equivalent to 8.4 million holiday nights) were undertaken by Australians in the September 2020 quarter, which accounted for 44 per cent of all holiday nights across Australia. While these figures are encouraging against the background of a wider tourism industry in turmoil, they in fact represent a national decline compare to figures from 2019.

Stuart Lamont, CEO of Caravan Industry Association of Australia (CIAA), said: “We welcome the comments by the Prime Minister earlier in the week on the importance of domestic tourism to Australia’s visitor economy and whilst caravan and camping visitor numbers still remain down on 2019, the latest data from TRA reaffirms the important role caravan and camping has in driving the economic recovery of the visitor economy.

“We live in a world of fragile consumer confidence at present creating a two-speed economy. Whilst it is important that governments make health the first priority for Australians, concerns remain for those operators and communities in border towns, transit regions and remote locations that are continuing to feel the financial pain of border closures and are not enjoying the spoils of Australia’s fascination with the caravan and camping lifestyle.”

Despite this positive news, many Australian businesses are facing the prospect of closure as the country adapts to the everchanging environment of border closures and deal with the long-lasting impacts of last season’s bushfires. The CIAA is calling on the Australian government to continue with projects such as concessional funding for tourism operators as well as personal tax deductions for domestic holiday travel to increase demand for struggling businesses.