RV tourism and farming a good fit

The low Australian dollar has fuelled what was already Australia's fastest growing tourism sector, the motorhome and caravan operator, and the peace and quiet, unique geography and community spirit of country towns is drawing them inland.

While local governments across NSW are scrambling to make themselves RV friendly via rest areas for free overnight camping and parking for access to central business districts, tourism experts say working properties present an attractive "stopover" option.

Year-to-date RV production in Australia is tracking eight per cent higher than 2014, which itself was the second highest annual production in two decades.

A whopping 21,500-plus RVs will come off the factory line this year, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures.

The Australian Caravan Industry Association of Australia says there has been a 34 per cent increase in registrations of RVs since 2008.

Chief executive officer Stuart Lamont said about 90pc of all visitor nights in the sector were spent in regional Aus- tralia, so RV travellers were pumping "tremendous wealth into the economies of regional communities".

Still, the opportunity to attract RV travellers was enormous and largely untapped in the bush, he said.

"The advantage country towns have is the ability to engender strong parochialism for their community," he said.

"The establishment of a tourism-minded culture where every retailer and service provider in the community is a tourism ambassador goes a long way to welcoming well-connected travelling groups such as the RV market."

Australia's largest RV retailer Australian Motorhomes marketing manager Mat Perks, Newcastle, said interestingly, primary producers themselves, both retired and still working, were big RV users.

As such, Australian Motorhomes, which sells big names in the game like Winnebago, Avida and Sunliner, has exhibited at Gunnedah's AgQuip for the past 15 years.

Primary producers have connections to the land and want to see agriculture in operation in other parts of the country, he said.

The easy going way of life and camaraderie also fits well with the farmer personality, he said.

Not everybody is convinced the RV juggernaut is a boon for country towns, however, with the "high impact but low yield" and "freeloading" tag often directed their way.

Academic Rod Caldicott, from Southern Cross University's School of Tourism and Hospitality Manage- ment in Lismore, argues that concept is off the mark.

"More and more small towns and agritourism ventures are recognising this cake is getting bigger and there is plenty to go around and looking for ways to make their product more attractive to this market in order to secure a bigger slice," he said.

"Research indicates that 34pc of RV users utilise caravan parks only, just 16pc utilise free camping only and the other 50pc swing between the two.

"That 16pc still have the same tourist dollars to distribute in a small town. They make the conscious decision to do it in different ways - dining out, buying souvenirs, taking a local farm tour or making a donation to the rural fire brigade."

Mr Caldicott said the huge opportunity for farmers to tap into the RV market was being limited in NSW by outdated legislation.

"In NSW, if you have two or more RVs on a site for three or more days, you must meet the same compliance requirements as a commercial caravan park, which is cost prohibitive for most property owners looking to supplement traditional farm incomes via tourism," he said.

"In Queensland and Western Australia, there has been the recognition of the need for reforms to allow RV camping on farms."