Why one in three Australians is going camping or on a caravan trip

Fiona Carruthers Travel editor
Feeling the pinch of lockdown? Desperate for a holiday but worried about being back in crowded indoor spaces and on planes once the nation reopens?

Join the renaissance of nostalgic travel with a good old-fashioned camping or caravan trip. One in three Australians can’t be wrong, after all.

Adrian and Michelle Delf with their custom-made caravan “Sunny”, pictured here at Brisbane Holiday Village. Madeline Begley

“Our Safari caravan was custom-made for us in Melbourne two years ago,” Brisbanite Adrian Delf told AFR Weekend. “We named it ‘Sunny’, and the three of us have clocked up 18,728 kilometres to be exact.”

The plan was to do ‘The Lap’ of Australia, picking up work along the way as they went. A horticulturalist by training, he took extended long-service leave from his contract maintenance role, while his wife Michelle quit her job in financial services.

But COVID-19 had other plans, and the Delfs (who leased out their Brisbane house early last year) have been “bouncing” between Queensland, NSW and the ACT over the past 18 months, including spending time at the Brisbane Holiday Village caravan site.

“We’ve been nervous to venture too far with all the border closures, but can’t wait to do our lap as soon as things open up,” Michelle said. “There’s nothing like the freedom of the caravan life, each day is so relaxing with no household chores or lawns to be mowed, and the people you meet along the way are wonderful.”

The caravan and RV industry, along with camping, has come into its own as the nation prepares to exit the worst of the pandemic once all those over 16 are fully vaccinated.

As Australians count down the days until the extended Christmas break, the country’s workforce and retirees are sitting on more than $200 billion of ready-to-spend savings with an unprecedented 174.9 million days of annual leave accrued.

But will we head overseas in droves, or at least spend some of it at home, is the billion-dollar question.

The caravan and mobile home industry is thriving, recording $23.8 billion in the last financial year.

Pictured by the pool at the Brisbane Holiday Village, the Delfs say the caravan life has plenty to recommend it.  Madeline Begley

During the first financial quarter of 2021 (January and March), approximately one in three Australians took a caravan or camping trip, according to the Caravan Industry Association of Australia’s 2021 State of the Industry report.

The pandemic has also changed the face of the caravan market; this year, “parents with children at home” finally eclipsed the “young/midlife” segment as the largest market for caravan and camping holidays in Australia.

The independence and control caravans give holidaymakers have been behind the 30 per cent spike in sales last year, despite problems in supplying the market.

Long waiting times are now in the norm for brands such as Gerry Ryan’s Jayco, Apollo Motorhomes and New Age Caravans.

Only 16,842 units were made last year because of skills and parts shortages, plus delays on imported materials.

“Australia’s caravan industry was the largest domestic tourism cohort leading into the pandemic and will remain the largest out the other side,” says Stuart Lamont, the long-standing CEO of the Caravan Industry Association of Australia.

Caravan Industry Association CEO Stuart Lamont is a caravan tragic from way back. He’s pictured here at a caravan park near Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast. Attila Csaszar

On the manufacturing side, caravan and RV manufacture has become and remains Australia’s largest vehicle manufacturing sector.”

More than 750,000 recreational vehicles such as caravans and motorhomes are registered on Australian roads, with 90 per cent of these vehicles built in Australia.

After a record 14 million caravan trips in 2019, domestic caravan and camping trips had dropped to 10.6 million annual trips by December 2020. But an explosion of road trips is expected as soon as the nation’s borders reopen.

Owner and manager of his family business, Brisbane Holiday Village, Geoff Illich can cater for up to 150 caravans and 50 tent sites (including glamping) on his generous site at Eight Mile Plains, just 20 minutes drive from Brisbane.

“With school holidays in full swing up here, we’re bursting at the seams,” Illich said. “We have a lot of new staff who have not yet seen it like this and the atmosphere is fantastic. You can smell the sunscreen in the air, the kids are racing around on their bikes and the adults are just relaxing. We’re all on cloud nine.”