Push to keep caravan parks open

The Caravan Industry Association of Australia is seeking clarification from government on whether caravan parks are ‘essential services’ and can remain open during the nationwide coronavirus shutdown.

While some state borders have already been closed and Prime Minister Scott Morrison has advised “all non-essential travel should be cancelled,” the peak national body said that many Australians rely on caravan parks for long-term accommodation purposes.

“We estimate that there are currently 75,000 people in Australia today away from their normal place of residence or using an RV as their permanent home'" the Association said on its website. “This is on top of the tens of thousands who call caravan parks home.”

The CIAA said it is "vital that caravan parks remain an essential service, to give individual operators the ability to make their own decision on whether to open or otherwise.

"This choice was taken away from some businesses in the broader Australian community last night (eg pubs, clubs, restaurants, entertainment precincts etc) in Stage One of planned shut-downs announced by the Prime Minister.”

In response to the coronavirus crisis, Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia and Tasmania recently introduced strict border controls, so those entering the states and territory will be subject to a compulsory 14-day isolation period.

Meanwhile, some caravan parks like the Tingha Gems Caravan & Camping Park are already taking extra measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The NSW park has locked its amenities and is restricting access to fully self-contained campers. The park is also restricting site numbers to encourage social distancing and giving preference to travellers living full time in self-contained RVs.

It’s been reported that some full-time RV travelers have already been evicted from council-run caravan and camping grounds shut down due to the pandemic.

The CIAA is recommending that all  "businesses, but in particular caravan parks, maintain a register of all visitors (not just primary contact) for the purposes of contact tracing of necessary.

"Caravan parks should also consider the closing or limiting access to common facilities such as amenity blocks, camp kitchens, swimming pools and the like.”

Meanwhile, the BIG4 holiday park chain recently announced a new flexible booking policy. From March 19, BIG4 said that "any guest who makes a new booking in participating parks on BIG4.com.au will be able to change their bookings up to 72 hours prior to arrival. Guests will have the option to change the date of their booking or accept a credit valid for up to 12 months".