A Strategic Approach to the Caravan and Camping Industry 2012

Rally the Reserves
Recommendation 2: Increase Support for Release of Land for more Caravan Park Developments where Viable
Provide development-ready land for caravan parks and campgrounds in
Western Australia through the LandBank Program.
Tourism WA to consider the extreme priority locations identified in the gap
analysis and elsewhere in this report and work with other agencies to apply
for appropriate funding to develop caravan parks at those locations.
Issues and Risks
Since 2005, ten caravan parks have closed at prime coastal holiday locations. Without
State Government intervention it is unlikely that enough new caravan parks will be
developed at coastal sites to replace them due to the high cost of land. Unallocated
Crown Land and Reserves at strategic locations may be deemed to have higher use
potential. However, unless sites are provided at priority locations, access and equity
issues will arise, as there will be no affordable holiday accommodation options at such
locations over time. The lack of caravan parks and campgrounds at prime locations will
encourage illegal camping, which is extremely difficult to regulate.
The LandBank initiative, introduced in 2005, aims to attract suitable domestic and
overseas investors to tourism development projects by identifying strategic tourism
sites and making them investor ready through the facilitation of the required
approvals. LandBank also contributed to research that resulted in a report:
Understanding the Caravan Park Industry in Western Australia that provided extensive
insights into the type of tourists who use caravan parks, their decision making
processes and the key operational issues that caravan park operators need to focus on
to attract this market.
Although investigations have been undertaken, the LandBank program has not yet
resulted in attracting investors to develop new caravan parks or in providing a supply
of development-ready sites for caravan parks in Western Australia. It is considered
that the critical land supply needs of this important tourism sector can only be
addressed by a new high-level whole of government focus.
Many of the extreme priority locations identified have developments proposed or
alternative delivery methods (as per the other recommendations), which would better
fill the gaps in supply. Of the extreme priority areas identified, there are two key
locations that meet the requirements for urgent intervention by state government to
re-establish tourist caravan park sites lost through closures and redevelopment - Peel
and Lancelin. Both of which are considered to have the supporting year round
occupancy (to achieve viability) and a lack of other more cost effective alternatives to
deliver additional year round capacity.
Closures of caravan parks at Lancelin and Mandurah/Murray in the Peel region have
diminished the tourism opportunity at these key coastal locations, which are highly
strategic in terms of their proximity to Perth.
The lack of caravan parks near to the capital city is an issue for people domiciled in
Perth as it reduces their capacity to take short breaks without travelling long
distances. For tourists to Western Australia, having caravan parks located within one
hour of the major city on major transport routes is critically important to their
enjoyment of the tourism experiences that Perth offers.
The availability of land suitable for caravan parks at these two strategic locations is
severely inhibited and it is unlikely that new caravan parks will be developed at
Lancelin and Mandurah/Murray without government intervention due to the cost of
land. A working group has been established to address these issues in the Peel
Region.
Local government has identified shortages at both locations and support the
establishment of new caravan parks to improve the tourism opportunity. The Shires of
Gingin and Murray have been quite proactive in determining suitable locations.
However, Mandurah City does not rate caravan parks a high priority in their Tourism
Strategy. Mandurah and Murray have average annual occupancies of 86% and 72%
respectively and occupancies at the location peak at more than 85%.
Strategy
It is proposed that increased focus is put on the identification of Unallocated Crown
Land, Reserves, Conservation Estate, Indigenous land and local government land
through the LandBank and NatureBank frameworks to facilitate development of
tourist caravan parks and campgrounds.
Furthermore, planning policy should be reviewed to ensure that land for caravan
parks is considered a high priority and provided for whenever new land releases are
proposed. The broader inclusion of ‘tourism zones’ in major land releases is not a
satisfactory outcome for the caravan and camping tourism sector, as the value of such
strategically located land precludes development of lower return developments such
A Strategic Approach to Caravan and Camping Tourism in Western Australia Page 88