Top gong for Melbourne Supershow

The move to a bigger venue has paid off for the organisers of the Victorian Caravan Supershow, with one of Australia’s largest RV shows picking up a silver medal at this year’s RACV Victorian Tourism Awards.

Held over six days in February, the Victorian Caravan, Camping & Touring Supershow was runner up in the Major Festivals and Events category, which is open to events that attract more than 50,000 visitors. The winner was the Melbourne Cup Festival, with the  Melbourne Food and Wine Festival grabbing bronze.

This year’s Victoria Supershow was for the first time in its 61 year history held at the Melbourne Showgrounds in Flemington, allowing exhibitors to spread out over 60,000 square metres, or around 40 per cent more space than the previous Caulfield Racecourse venue.

According to Rob Lucas, CEO of the Caravan Industry Association of Victoria which organises the Supershow, this year’s event cost more than $1 million to stage but generated around $50 million in sales for the 500 or so exhibitors.

“We had two objectives when we started the submission process for the RACV Victorian Tourism Awards. Firstly we wanted our systems reviewed by an outside source to create best practise and secondly to be seen as a legitimate partner in the tourism industry,” he said.

“Winning the award has been a wonderful reward for a fantastic team effort from everyone involved including the participating exhibitors and our own team who were responsible for the long-term planning and roll-out of this event."

Other RV-related winners at the 2015 Victorian Tourism Awards included BIG4 Beacon Resort Holiday Park at Queenscliff, which won the Caravan and Holiday Parks category for the second consecutive year. RACV Cobram Resort was runner-up with BIG4 Riverside Swan Hill in third place.