Caravan park occupancy across Australia grew 14 per cent last summer, on the tourism industry's aggregated data. That figure is the strongest annual growth the segment has recorded in twenty years.
Who is staying
The demographic driving the growth is not, as many operators had assumed, retirees returning to a mode of travel they knew from earlier in their lives. It is families with young children, in the 30 to 42 bracket. Half of these families are staying at a caravan park for the first time.
Why
Cost is part of the story. So is the specific product: a park that includes a pool, a jumping pillow, and a set of easily-organised social interactions for children removes the mental load of holiday parenting. That, for the current generation of parents, is a significant selling point.
The parks are, in response, upgrading. The best of them look nothing like the caravan parks of the 1990s.
