CARAVAN parks and campgrounds are proving to be a major drawcard in luring interstate tourists to Victoria.
Terrorism fears, a falling Australian dollar, and cheaper fuel prices are causing many holiday-makers to swap overseas travel for caravan or camping holidays in the garden state.
Nearly 22 million domestic overnight trips were made to Victoria in the year ending September 2016, adding $12 billion to the local economy.
Victoria attracted more than 1.6 million overnight trips than Queensland as it cemented its place as the second most popular state to NSW for domestic holiday-makers.
The number of nights spent at Victorian caravan parks and camping grounds both showed a significant increase, largely due to a growth in travel by grey nomads and young families.
Figures reveal there was a 20 per cent rise in nights spent at caravan parks and a 47 per cent increase in nights spent free camping.
Darren and Vicky Mills, and their three children Thomas, 8, Aleisha, 5, and Benjamin, 5, from Western Australia, booked into the Melbourne Big4 holiday park at Coburg while on an eight-week road trip.
“So far the weather has been beautiful in Victoria and it was very pretty coming down through the hills — that was a great little drive,” Mr Mills said.
“We’ve got to do the aquarium in Melbourne and the trams because that’s a unique thing we don’t see in WA, and we also want to do Puffing Billy and the Great Ocean Road before we leave.
“Caravanning gives us the freedom to do our own thing.
“We can go where we want and if we want to stay somewhere we just pull over and stop.”
Big4 Holiday Parks chief executive officer Steven Wright said Victorian parks were leading the way with a 17 per cent increase in bookings last year.
Acting Tourism Minister Philip Dalidakis said Victoria’s reputation as the home of world-class sporting events, stunning natural landscapes, and unique cultural experiences continued to attract millions of visitors each year.
“We are happy that more and more visitors from right across Australia are coming to experience Victoria for themselves, but we will continue to invest and innovate to become the number one tourist destination in the country into the future,” he said.
“Our major events calendar boasts the Australian Open, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and White Night, just to name a few.
“We’re also providing $100 million to secure and run the best events across regional Victoria as well as Melbourne to ensure we maintain our edge.”
