Caravan Industry Association of Australia and Ecotourism Australia will collaborate to promote a pathway to sustainability for caravanning and camping tourism enterprises in Australia.
More than 6,000 businesses operate across the caravan and camping supply chain in Australia and caravanning and camping generated $7.4 billion in visitor expenditure in 2021, a 29% increase from the previous year according to Tourism Research Australia. This trend is expected to continue its upward tick with Caravan Industry Association of Australia reporting a 10% increase in caravan and camping visitor trips in the year to March 2023 compared to 2019 pre-COVID figures.
Caravanning and camping remain the number one provider of holiday nights across regional Australia with record levels of trips and nights undertaken up to March 2023. The pipeline remains strong post COVID, with a record number of Australians also registering new caravanning and camping product.
“Caravanning and camping trips are one of Australia’s favourite pastimes facilitating access to regional destinations. Of the 120 ECO Certified accommodations in Australia who have achieved global best practice sustainability standards, over a third offer caravanning, camping and glamping experiences. We look forward to seeing more parks undertake this journey towards ECO or Sustainable Tourism Certification,” said Ecotourism Australia Chief Executive, Elissa Keenan.
“The commitment by Caravan Industry Association of Australia to promote sustainability is significant. It is wonderful to partner with the peak national body for the caravanning and camping industry, Caravan Industry Association of Australia, to kickstart a pathway to sustainable tourism.”
Caravan Industry Association of Australia Chief Executive, Stuart Lamont, said the partnership was key to support the sector.
“We are pleased to partner with Ecotourism Australia to help promote the importance of sustainability to our caravan parks and associated operators.
“Caravanning and camping have immense potential to be part of the growing responsible travel movement in Australia and lead regional small to medium-sized business toward innovative sustainability,” he said.
The Sustainable Tourism pathway program supports the tourism industry and the tourism supply to address the four pillars of sustainability: sustainable management, environmental impacts, socio-economic impacts, and cultural impacts. It includes the Strive 4 Sustainability Scorecard pre-certification benchmarking tool; and the foundational ECO Certification program (for nature-based tourism businesses) and the new Sustainable Tourism Certification for non-nature-based businesses, both of which have a standard recognised by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC).
Caravan Industry Association of Australia is not-for-profit collaborating with its membership base comprising of individual state caravanning and camping associations.
Ecotourism Australia’s Head of Sustainability and Business Operations, Nadine Schramm, will be presenting a session on managing sustainability at the Victorian Caravan Parks Association’s 2023 VicParks Conference on Tuesday 15 August.
ENDS
Media Contacts
Ecotourism Australia: Georgie Snare, Communications and Events Officer, (e): georgie@ecotourism.org.au (ph): 07 3256 6777
About Caravan Industry Association of Australia
The Australian Caravan and Camping industry is a $27.1 billion industry that directly employs 53,000 people, manufactures locally more than 20,000 vehicles per annum, services over 740,000 vehicles on the road, generates 12 million trips and 60 million visitor nights in caravan parks across the country.
Caravan Industry Association of Australia Ltd is the peak national body representing the Caravanning and Camping Industry in Australia. As an association representing the sector we undertake a number of activities each year aimed at increasing awareness of the industry, improving the industry and encouraging consumer participation within the sector. These activities include TV cooperatives, online marketing activities, advertising, PR activities, research, advocacy, lobbying, Recreational Vehicle Manufacturer’s Accreditation Program (RVMAP) and a parks accreditation program, plus an annual conference.