Roll out the RV red carpet

Becoming an RV friendly town is easy - all that’s needed is a shift in attitudes and a little consideration towards the needs of the ever-growing band of merry travellers.

According to a study published in the Campervan Motorhome Club of Australia (CMCA), the recreational vehicle market in Australia is worth approximately $6.5 billion each year with over half a million RVs registered and an estimated nine million RV trips taken annually.

The RV tourist dollar in Australia is so large that it’s the dominant spend in the domestic traveller market. For this reason alone, every town in Australia should be rolling out the red carpet to make RV travellers welcome.

For RV owners, their mighty dollar spend means better facilities are popping up everywhere, yet some towns just don’t get it.  

While the Federal Government contemplates installing free charging points for a handful of electric cars across the nation, the potential revenue (for country towns in particular) that could be gained from a national roll out of RV charging points is not on the table.

Am I the only person here to see an opportunity to do both?

Of course, it’s not all bad news for RV owners - in fact far from it. We’ve never had so many RV friendly places to visit and ever more new towns are taking steps to become RV friendly each year.

Then there are the towns that won’t stump up the cost for the official pathway to ‘RV friendliness’. ‘Too expensive’, they say. There’s no denying the stipulations for gaining an RV Friendly Town stamp of approval – having an easily accessible, low-cost campground, RV dump points, etc -- can be costly but what’s the cost of doing nothing?

According to the CMCA, grey nomads spend anywhere between $500-900 per week. Even for a large town, this is a significant revenue opportunity. For many a small rural town, RV travellers are a life-line to the local economy.

Making your town ‘RV Friendly’ isn’t rocket science and while the official stamp does offer some great benefits, a less structured approach to RV friendliness can be achieved for very little money.

After all, what do hard working retirees want when they’re looking to spend their hard earned dollars? The answer is simple: value for their money!

Some RV un-friendly towns argue that grey nomads do nothing to contribute to their local economy. Why waste money on these ageing free loaders, they ask.

By virtue of being grey (and the fact some nomads are driving around in vehicles that cost more than some people’s houses) our nomads have for the large part, been paying taxes and working hard in our community for a very long time.

RVs cost money and, I’m willing to bet the typical RV owner has worked (or is still working) harder than most. If our grey nomads want to take it easy by a river and do so freely, I think the very least we can do is support them after all those years of them supporting us.

As a matter of fact, I think anything that can be done to encourage and foster RV travellers to travel our great land (sprinkling towns with their vehicle service dollar, fuel purchases, entry fees, food purchases, clothes, sundries, entertainment, health etc, etc) should be done.

Towns that get it right (and by this, I mean providing true value for RV travellers), are enjoying a booming local economy thanks to our mobile revenue generating task-force.

A true RV Friendly town doesn’t need a stamp. The RV community are one of the most tech savvy and connected on the planet so if a town starts slinging extension cords over back fences, providing quality entertainment options (a mix of free and paid) and serving up food that is healthy, delicious and well priced, RV people are going to find out and start heading your way in droves.

Right now, we’re coming into winter and the opportunity for southern towns is knocking louder than an oil-starved diesel engine. Every year around this time, RV folks start migrating north to follow the sun, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

RVs are by nature, more susceptible to the weather than normal houses so staying warm for an affordable price is naturally a high priority. Some inspired ‘cooler’ towns (like Tasmania's Fingal) recognise this priority and have begun providing free plug-in points to attract the flow of travelling money back down south.

If you spent last winter in far north Queensland, chances are you’re ready for a change and any towns that provide a ‘value’ option to enjoy a proper winter without the frost bite should be rewarded with RV tourist dollars...