Melbourne Supershow a sell out

The Victorian Caravan, Camping & Touring Supershow due to be staged at the Melbourne Showgrounds from February 11 to 16 is already a "sell out" according to the CEO of the Caravan Industry Association of Victoria (CIAV) Rob Lucas.

Lucas told Caravancampingsales that all caravan, motor home, tent trailer and fifth wheeler sites were "gone", while "nearly all accessory space" was taken and the expanded Tourism pavilion was "almost full".

"We should have a record 1500 RV products on display," he said.

He said around 50,000 square metres of the total 60,000sqm space available at the new, larger venue had already been allocated, with the remaining 10,000sqm expected to be filled by early in the New Year.

“This excellent take-up two months out already validates our Council’s decision to move the show from Caulfield Racecourse to the Showgrounds,” he said.

Lucas said that the extra 18,000 square metres of additional exhibiting space at the Showgrounds over the total 42,000sqm capacity at Caulfield had been snapped up soon after applications opened, with a number of major Australian caravan makers taking the opportunity to grow their sites.

These included Jayco, New Age, Supreme, Roma and Royal Flair, he said.

A major attraction to these and other exhibitors has been the much larger undercover space available at the Showgrounds.

This also looks like delivering a bonus for the CIAV, as while its council decided to offer display space at the Showgrounds at the same three-year-old Caulfield pricing, undercover space has traditionally attracted a loading.

However despite the extra space at the Showgrounds, not all of Australia’s major RV brands will be there, with notable omissions being the Chinese-made MDC camper trailers and Melbourne’s Regent Caravans, which was purchased by the Chinese RV conglomerate Daide in August this year.

Regent’s 'no-show' is the more surprising, considering it has been an iconic Australian brand for more than 25 years and still maintains an expanding Australian workforce designing and building caravans in Campbellfield, Victoria.

However while Regent used to be an CIAV member under its former Caravans Australia ownership and displayed at the 2014 Victorian Supershow at Caulfield (pictured), it has yet to regain this member status since it changed hands.

Lucas said it was not necessary for organisations to be CIAV members to display at its shows, but demand dictated display space.

“Anyone can make an application to exhibit at our shows,” he said, “however by the time we open a big show like this, people lock in display space very quickly and naturally we give preference to our members. We don’t wait until two days before the show before we allocate space.”