Big business flocks to camping revival

Rocketing energy prices are driving budget-conscious tourists back to cheaper camp grounds which experienced a slump following Covid as land-locked Aussies fled offshore.

Grant Wilckens, Founder, G'day Parks Holdings. Picture: Simon Casson

Rocketing energy prices and interest rates are driving tourists back to cheaper camp grounds and holiday parks which experienced a slump following Covid-19 as land-locked Aussies fled offshore to Europe and North America.

Now locals are returning to camp grounds with Western Australian caravan parks proving to be among the most popular destinations as East Coasters discover Busselton, Margaret River and Rottnest Island.

“Over the past few months Western Australia has continued to perform exceptionally well, obviously that was not the case during Covid-19, but the economy is particularly strong over there. At the end of the day every state has performed, Western Australia is a standout,” says the founder and CEO of Australia’s largest accommodation park network, G’day Group Holdings, Grant Wilckens.

G’day Group Holdings, which is majority owned by The Australian Retirement Trust, manages 300 caravan parks and owns nearly 100 of these, is also expecting to make inroads into the newly emerging Chinese Mainland market as these tourists gradually steer away from the traditional destinations of Sydney, Melbourne and Cairns further afield into regional areas.

But it hasn’t been easy in the post Covid-19 realm according to Mr Wilckens who typically buys five to ten properties each year to add to the portfolio. Across the portfolio occupancy averages around 55 per cent throughout the year due to seasonality.

“Some of the properties away from major cities have come off a little bit since Covid,” he says.

But these days as the dollar plunges, airfares remain expensive and European and American holidays are prohibitive, Mr Wilckens says camping and caravaning holidays are seeing a resurgence in popularity. At present his Jindabyne and Bright caravan parks are doing well due to the ski season and up north there’s a huge amount of customers in Katherine and Darwin but in the summer period the occupancy of these parks will lessen.

People who are used to holidaying overseas are now realising how expensive it is with the collapsing dollar and are staying closer to home, he says. “Everybody is trading down, we are not at the top end, we are at the affordable end, the customer is trading down,” says Mr Wilckens, who is also chair of the Caravan Industry Association of Australia.

“The benefit of Covid is people have re-explored their own country, we have seen people buy houses and move away from cities, there’s been a renaissance and people are going to some of those more outback towns, amazing places like the Barossa Valley, Clare Valley…people are visiting places like Dubbo to visit the zoo.

Mr Wilckens says the G’day Group is so buoyed by the increase in occupancies that he is presently looking at buying another portfolio of parks. However he declined to comment further.

The G’day Group is represented in all states and territories with top properties including the luxury El Questro in the Kimberley and glamping accommodation on Rottnest Island which in peak season can command thousands of dollars per night. At the other end of the scale is G’day Group’s powered sites in its Discovery Park in Hadspen in the South Esk region of northern Tasmania which cost just $35 a night.

“We were starting to see it in 2019, we saw them in Central Australia and in Byron Bay and Cairns. “There will be a day when Chinese Mainlanders will start getting out to more regional areas because we have unique landscapes,” Mr Wilckens said.

He is also buoyed by the increase in the numbers of people buying caravans and recreation vehicles.