Australia tops for caravan buying

We all know Aussies love their caravans, but now the world knows too.

Australia has been ranked the third strongest caravan market in the world, according to a new report from the German-based Caravanning Industry Association (CIVD).

According to the 2012 Global Caravanning Profile, sales of caravans around the world increased by 4.9 per cent in 2012 to a total of 318,910.

North America, with 212,900 new RV registrations and Europe with 81,010 new registrations were the leading caravan markets on an annual basis.

But while a relative minnow with just 21,500 new RV registrations, Australia has a much smaller population of 23 million compared to 740 million in Europe and 315 million in the US.

That translates to one new caravan registration for every 1069 people Down Under, compared to one registration for every 1479 people in the US and one for every 9134 people in Europe.

While most caravan-producing countries have experienced depressed markets recently, due to economic downturns and the GFC, it seems Australia has fared better than many.

According to the European Caravaning Federation (ECF), the European RV market has been hard hit by the sovereign-debt crisis, with only Germany, Austria and Switzerland registering increases in new RV sales in 2012.

The ECF says European RV sales declined by 6.3 percent last year, to around 145,650 units. Whereas new caravan sales declined by 9.5 percent to around 73,250 units, motorhome sales fell by only three percent, to around 72,400 units.

Germany, which has a population of 82 million, registered the highest RV sales in Europe (41,700), followed by the UK (62 million people, 27,385 sales) and France (65 million, 27,210).

According to the Caravan, RV & Accommodation Industry of Australia (CRVA), between 2008 and 2011, caravan and campervan registrations rose by 14.7 per cent across Australia, with now more than 474,000 registered recreation vehicles across the country.

Figures released by industry body RVM Australia suggest Australian RV production will be down by around five per cent, to just over 20,000 units, in 2012. Hardest hit has been the motorhome market, with annual production expected to be down by around 30 per cent, to less than 1000 units (final figures are yet to be released).

Meanwhile, as a reflection of its growing status in the RV world, Australia will host the 3rd World RV Conference in 2015.

The 2nd World RV Conference, recently held in Florida, USA, drew 240 industry leaders from 16 countries including the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Russie, South Africa and China.

Amongst Australian attendees were Caravan RV & Accommodation Industry of Australia CEO, Stuart Lamont and RVM Australia CEO David Duncan.

“The 3rd World RV Conference represents an opportunity to showcase the Australian RV market to the world while illustrating clearly the challenges associated with distributing product into the Australian market and will go a long way to managing potential import threats,” Lamont said.