Gympie Regional Council unveils plans free RV, caravan campsites

Gympie council has unveiled its plan to capitalise on a growing ‘grey nomad’ tourism trend, but not every proposed new site has been met with open arms. See the list.

An RV park at Kikivan is one of six new free sites proposed to be built across the region as Gympie regional Council tries to capitalise on a growing “grey nomad” tourism market.

RV enthusiasts will soon be spoiled for choice across the Gympie region with six new free sites in the pipeline, but fears remain at least one may, hurt, not help, local tourism.

The proposed new sites form part of Gympie Regional Council’s RV strategy as it seeks to capitalise on a growing “grey nomad” tourism industry.

Amamoor, Gunalda, Gympie Showgrounds, Kilkivan, Tin Can Bay and a second Kandanga park have been flagged as part of that push.

The new parks would join six other free parks already running across Gympie, giving travellers a dozen choices.

Amamoor’s new park is planned along Busby and Amamoor streets near the town’s Mary Valley Rattler station.

The Gunalda park would be opened at Balkin St, while Kandanga’s second park would be established at Kandanga Creek Rd.

Kilkivan’s new facility is flagged at Bligh St.

The Gympie Showgrounds park would be near the Southside Town Centre and Tin Can Bay’s RV site would be opened at the corner of Gympie Rd and Coral Trout Drive.

A second free RV park at Kandanga has been proposed as part of the council’s plan.

All blocks of land are owned by the council.

It was the proposed coastal RV park which raised concerns.

Councillor Jess Milne asked whether opening a free site near the coastal towns would take money away from tourism and accommodation operators at the coast.

“If we’re going to be putting a free camp in … my fear is it’s going to be very, very, very well utilised.”

This included risk of the site being misused by people staying well beyond a proposed 72 hour limit.

The coast was already grappling with the issue of people trying whatever means to score free accommodation out there.

“We have a lot of unlawful camping issues out there,” Ms Milne said.

Councillor Jess Milne has raised concerns a free RV park at Tin Can Bay could draw tourism dollars away from accommodation providers along the coast.

“I’m more leaning towards having someone run an RV option … just to address some of those issues.”

She said the CMCA was interested in setting up shop in the region and “they need to be invited to come and look”.

Mayor Glen Hartwig said any such park, if run on council-owned land, would have to go through the council’s tender process.

“We can’t just say to CMCA ‘you come in, here’s your block of land’,” Mr Hartwig said.

“If there are any interested parties … we certainly wouldn't say ‘no, go away’ … but we are restricted by what we can do under our regulations and under the act.

Free RV parks are already open at Dickabram Park, Widgee, Kinbombi Falls, Chatsworth Park, Carters Ridge and Kandanga’s Paul Robeck Park.

The council’s RV strategy will be brought to a future meeting for councillors’ consideration.