Melbourne Supershow at a crossroads

Attendance at major Australian RV shows remains subdued, with only a slight boost in crowd figures at this year’s 60th Anniversary Victorian Caravan, Camping and Touring Supershow.

According to the Caravan Trade & Industries Association of Victoria (CTIAV) which organizes the show, 52,723 people flocked through the gates of the Caulfield Racecourse over the six days in early-March, up almost 3000 on last year.

However, visitor numbers to Victoria’s biggest RV show remain well down on the 2011 and 2012 events, which attracted 60,348 and 64,355 respectively.

That's despite much better weather across the long week-end compared to last year’s heatwave, as well as a number of new initiatives designed to pull in the punters including free parking and shuttle buggies, a new stage for live shows and seminars, kids’ club, volunteer helpers, a new smartphone show app and a vintage caravan display.

Caulfield Racecourse in Melbourne’s south-east is the fourth venue used for the show since it began in 1954, but in recent years has been bursting at the seams, with this year's 420-odd exhibitors crammed into 43,000 square metres of indoor and outdoor exhibition space.

Speaking at the pre-Show media breakfast, CTIAV CEO Rob Lucas hinted the Supershow had outgrown the current venue when he said another 100 exhibitors could be accepted if there was more space to fit them in.

“We need another 7000 square metres of space just to keep pace with our existing industry,” he said.

When asked to comment about whether the show will be moved next year to a bigger venue such as the Melbourne Showgrounds in Flemington, Lucas said: “I can make no comment about our show location for next year. I know there are rumours out there at the moment and they are only that.”

Located on a 19 hectare site, the Melbourne Showgrounds is the home of many large Melbourne-based events including the popular National 4X4 & Outdoors Show and Fishing & Boating Expo. Occupying more than 50,000sq.m of exhibitor space, the annual 4x4 Show attracts around 30,000 visitors over three days.

Unlike Caulfield Racecourse, the Melbourne Showgrounds also has a central gathering point for large crowds in the form of a large outdoor arena with public seating. It’s used to great effect by the 4x4 Show organisers to inject some ‘colour and noise’ amongst the static displays, with high adrenaline, off-road action throughout the event.

By contrast more recent initiatives by the CTIAV to inject some excitement into the Supershow, like the one-off Innovation and Technology Gallery in 2012 which shone a light on technological advances in the RV accessories industry, have fallen flat.

The plan was to extend the concept the following year with a separate exhibition of innovative recreational vehicles, like the 'Knaus by Avan' caravan and Aerovan displayed at this year’s show. However, Lucas said the idea didn’t get off the ground partly due to a lack interest from manufacturers as well as limited space at the Caulfield venue.