The Life Cycle of Caravan Parks in Australia: the case of northern New South Wales

Freedom camping in Australia: current status, key stakeholders and political debate

“…The contemporary movement of freedom camping globally may well be likened to a return towards the explorer phase of destination development generally (Butler 1980) and caravan park development specifically (Caldicott and Scherrer 2013b). Drawing upon the caravanning literature of the last two decades, with very few scholarly articles identified as making a direct, albeit brief, reference to free camping, and a further handful making similarly scant but indirect references to the concepts, consequences and thirst for freedom camping, this exploratory analysis of the freedom camping phenomenon in Australia partially addresses Caldicott's concern of a research and policy void regarding freedom camping.…”

“…In an effort to meet the emotional demands of city life … 'the bush life became more appealing and with it, the elevation of the bush legend as a creation by urban Australia, promulgating one way for urban society to deal with their difficulties' (Glenn 1975, 1). This has served as a key factor in the re-emergence of freedom camping in Australia as the predominately road-based travellers to regional inland and coastal areas camp at road-sides, in state forests, at legislated reserves, show grounds and other public places, away from commercial caravan and camping parks, thus continuing the legacy of an Australian tradition (Garner 2013) and feeding a growing phenomenon (Caldicott and Scherrer 2013b). Hardy and Gretzel (2011) suggest that RVing 'is not just a form of accommodation or transportation.…”

“…It is important to highlight that historically, the advent of commercial caravan parks is steeped in environmental and health issues arising from free and open camping akin to those reported in the current freedom camping debate (Caldicott 2011). Commercial caravan parks only developed through the middle of the twentieth century, albeit rapidly, from a recognized need to raise physical, environmental and health and hygiene standards and to improve amenities at overused and under-regulated freedom camping places, mainly on public lands (Caldicott and Scherrer 2013b). The perception of increased safety and comfort also played a role in the transition from free and open to commercial and controlled camping.…”

Camping Tourism: A Review of Recent International Scholarship

“…The life cycle of caravan parks in Australia has been analysed within the framework of Butler's classic tourism area life cycle model. Using historical data it is shown that the pattern of caravan park development and evolution conforms to the involvement, exploration, development, consolidation and stagnation stages of the model (Caldicott & Scherrer, 2013a). In the cases of Australia and New Zealand the development of these caravan parks was undertaken both under the aegis of the public sector as well as by private entrepreneurs (Collins & Kearns, 2010;Caldicott, 2011).…”

“…In the USA recent estimates are of approximately 16 000 campgrounds with just over half privately owned and operated the remainder being public-agency campgrounds (Timothy & Teye, 2009). In Australia caravan parks are the second highest provider of domestic tourism accommodation (Caldicott, 2011) and the subsector provides at least half of the country's national tourism bed capacity (Caldicott & Scherrer, 2013a). South Africa is noted as another significant focus for the camping sector (Van Heerden, 2008, 2010a, 2010b.…”