Caravan Industry Association data shows surge in trips across Australia

Despite uncertain economic times, the Caravan Industry Association of Australia has released the industries' latest holiday and accommodation data showing strong surges in trips across the country.

Numbers for the March quarter showed a strong surge in travel numbers with people embarking on 4.5 million trips (up 24%) around Australia with 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 $11.2bn in visitor expenditure. Far surpassing the 2019 pre-covid figures of 14 million trips and 59 million nights.

Caravanning and camping is the top 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. 

Caravan Industry Association of Australia Chief Executive, Stuart Lamont notes “seeing 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.

“Australians love of road-tripping is evident in the demand for RV product, with approximately 800,000 registered RV (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.”

Lamont adds “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 its parks and holiday resorts across the country helping to provide economic through continued tourism dollars. On average travellers spend $867 per trip in a caravan park and creating over $11.2 billion of visitor expenditure annually.

“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 the 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 continued high costs associated to overseas travelling and flailing international tourist figures we look continue to be the industry of choice for people wanting a getaway from their everyday.”

Image. Credit: BIG4 Shepparton Park Lane Holiday Park