CIAA Report: Camping's back with a boom as 19 million Australians keen to stay in caravan parks

been challenged over the past six months, beginning with the Australian bushfi res and closely followed by COVID, the industry has experienced massive cancellations and/ or re booking requests for every international market. This has created an enormous workload with negotiations over the cancellations conditions testing many commercial relationships across the inbound distribution channel.

And critically, the fear that was created off the back of the unprecedented closure of international borders, subsequently created a cashfl ow crisis, with the tremendous uncertainty seeing many intermediaries within the trade distribution channel eff ectively holding onto payments in the short term – sharpening the focus on relationships within the distribution channel.

The go forward presents its own set of challenges around sett ing international rates for April 2021 onwards with the uncertainty of demand as well as the additional costs of providing COVID-safe experiences in a post-COVID world.

There are many learnings which and beverage and functions to operate. And in the ACT we are pushing the 2m2 rule, Wellington-Canberra fl ights and having organised conferences and business events excluded from “gatherings” defi nitions. It would be remiss of me to not mention the eff orts happening here in my home state of New South Wales with John Whelan and the team in Macquarie Street working closely with government ministers, as well as the treasurer and deputy premier. On top of the state collaboration, we also have our national voice. Martin Ferguson is chair of our TAA national board and also actively involved in the tourism restart task force that reports directly into the NCCC, which goes back to the national cabinet. This has supported and assisted National Cabinet in achieving the three-phase step to recovery. We also have we can take from the COVID experience, learnings which we need to recognise and address to strengthen the value of the international trade distribution channel. ATEC has fi elded several calls from across the industry to review the timeliness associated with the existing invoicing and payments process with a view to ensuring payments are received in a timely manner, and that Australian based inbound tour operators and travel suppliers are not at risk from the slow release of payments by off shore wholesale partners.

In response to the above challenges, ATEC is working in partnership with both tourism buyers and sellers to establish some industry best practice guidelines around cancellations, invoicing and payments to strength commercial partnerships as we collectively put our shoulder to the wheel to build back our international tourism industry.

It is a new world, full of uncertainty, but one thing that will remain unchanged is people will want to travel and Australia will continue to be top of the

bucket list of the future. Stephen Ferguson our national AHA CEO and myself of course. Our big directive right now is working with Federal Treasury on the extension of JobKeeper.

This is critical for our industry and we are investing both fund and resources to ensure we achieve the results for members and the industry - and the exemption of FBT for three years to assist in our hotels driving revenues as we work to recovery.

There is no doubt we have a long road to recovery, but TAA and the AHA have the experience and resources to support our hotels on both a state and federal level.

We understand and appreciate how tough this crisis is for our hotel owners and operators and we will continue to give them the tailored support they need to emerge at the other end of this crisis and get back to what we do best.

Camping's back with a boom as 19 million Australians keen to stay in caravan parks!

The caravan and camping lifestyle is deeply rooted in the Australian psyche, with 19 million Australians indicating they would consider staying in a caravan park, according to new research released by Caravan Industry Association of Australia.

Caravan parks are some of the safest accommodation types available in Australia, ideally suited for Australians to get away and have a safe and much needed holiday.

“By design, caravan parks have large open spaces, cabin accommodation and many caravans/RVs have their own toilet, shower, kitchen and air con systems reducing the need to use shared facilities. Caravan parks have also increased strong cleaning and hygiene practices in place,” said Keelan Howard as general manager of marketing and communications, Caravan Industry Association of Australia.

In addition, caravan parks don’t rely on shared corridors and lift s to reach their accommodation and have recently introduced specifi c staff training regarding COVID-19 best practices and cleaning high frequency touchpoints to ensure a safe and enjoyable holiday option for Australians.

Australians are keen to get back on the road, with a survey of Caravan Industry Association of Australia’s audience showing that 80 percent wish to take a

Madeleine Sawyer

Tourism Executive, Caravan Industry Association of Australia

caravan or camping holiday in the next two months, providing a much-needed boost to regional Australia and the tourism industry.

According to Tourism Research Australia, Australians spent a total of 59 million nights caravan and camping in 2019, making caravan and camping the most popular accommodation option for Australians!

Our ‘Real Richness’ research report highlights that there is a lot of truth to the saying ‘happy campers’ with many benefi ts to both physical and mental wellbeing by enjoying a camping trip.

“People who go camping are happier, more optimistic, less stressed, feel closer to their partner and their children compared to those who don’t,” said Mr Howard.

As increased freedoms are gradually extended in diff erent states this is the perfect opportunity to take a trip to reconnect, refresh and reenergise.

Naturally, caravan and camping trips off er a great way to visit regions through Australia and support local communities independently.