Australia’s caravan parks to be updated or sold off

Posted April 1st 2008

by DPS

Baby boomer domestic travellers love

Australia’s often spectacularly sited caravan parks, but increasingly, developers are starting to look at the real estate values of many prized locations.

A new Tourism

Australia report states that caravans and camping are expected to boom between now and 2020, with the total number of nights spent camping and caravanning expected to rise by 21%, with an increase from 37 million to 45 million by 2020.

A change of caravan park ownership from the traditional Mum and Dad owner operator to professional management companies has also seen a new range of accommodation being offered, with four or five star bungalow accommodation being offered on top of the more traditional holiday park facilities.

But the prize locations have also seen parks falling to developers. Caravan parks in

Victoria at Portsea, Sorrento, Barwon Heads and

Apollo
Bay have all been sold to developers in the past two years and turned into unit complexes.

Hotels analyst, Nathan Wiltshire, said that “perhaps most significantly is that parks are being acquired by developers to be converted into other forms of development, due to the often prime location of many park sites.

“Economic forces often mean other forms of development are selected ahead of holiday parks. The challenge for existing owners will be to reinvest in and re-energise their businesses, in order to maximize revenue from a growing and potentially lucrative market”, Mr Wiltshire said.