After what has been an extremely challenging couple of years for domestic tourism, Caravan Industry Association of Australia's latest National Visitor Economy Report (June) shows the tide is turning in caravanning and camping trips across the country.
While the overall annual nights stayed and trips taken remain marginally down, the industry is heartened with the numbers from the June 2022 quarter representing the largest June quarter on record. Australian's recorded 14.1 million nights stayed across the country (from 3.9 million trips), signs that things are returning to normal and a testament to the confidence of consumers towards the industry.
"This is an exceptional outcome given the challenges the industry has faced over the last two years, looking at the latest figures it is easy to see they represent strong demand for caravan and camping experiences in Australia" said Stuart Lamont, CEO of Caravan Industry Association of Australia.
"The caravan and camping sector is vitally important to Australia's visitor economy, with 12.8 million overnight trips taken in the year end June 2022 and creating 52 million visitor nights. These visitors spent more than $8.1 billion whilst they travel which in turn supports local economies, job creation and regional communities".
"Although the numbers are encouraging, it demonstrates there is still a need for tourism agencies to remain firmly focussed on domestic tourism. We know Australians remain reluctant to travel internationally with flight costs and geo-political uncertainty being a major deterrent, and our inbound international travellers are still 18 months to two years away from returning in significant numbers. In the meantime, we need to ensure our regional and remote economies continue to benefit from much needed economic stimulus created through local drive tourism," said Mr Lamont.
The full report is available on Caravan Industry Association of Australia's website: https://www.caravanindustry.com.au/category/research
