Top Parks make big Discovery

In a Valentine’s Day gift to travellers that will shake up Australia’s caravan and camping sector, Discovery Parks has acquired the Top Parks brand, creating the country’s largest network of tourist parks.

Under an innovative licensing model, the 65 owner-operated Top Parks member parks will remain independently owned, but will form part of the growing Discovery Parks network, taking the combined total of parks under the amalgamated brands to more than 220.

With its loyalty base of around 150,000 holiday-makers, the new entity out-numbers Australia’s other big tourist park network, BIG4, which accounts for an estimated 180 parks.

Discovery CEO Grant Wickens said the amalgamation would offer members more places to stay and the opportunity to garner additional loyalty rewards, “even where we don’t own our own parks”.

Top Parks Chairman Richard Emerson said the agreement would position Top Parks members for strong future growth, with clear synergies between the groups around culture and customer experience.

Names stay the same

Under the agreement, both the Discovery Parks and Top Parks brands will be retained, allowing for differentiation between the company owned and licensed parks.

The deal will provide licensed parks with access to Discovery Parks’ greater purchasing power, as well as its digital marketing expertise.

Top Parks and Discovery Parks members will have access to a new customer rewards programme ‘G’Day Rewards’ -- which is being launched at the Adelaide Caravan & Camping Show — and is part of a suite of customer-orientated systems and technology.

Wilckens, who is also chair of the Caravan Industry Association of Australia, said the deal would make Adelaide the national hub for the caravan and camping industry, worth $19 billion to the national economy.

He said Discovery has bucked the five per cent downturn in the national caravan and camping market in 2017, growing revenue by nearly 14 per cent year-on-year. The Adelaide office grew by 30 per cent last year, prompting a move to larger premises, he said.

“The company has spent more than $11 million in key parks in South Australia and $30 million at parks nationally this financial year,” he said.

“With the backing of our majority owners, Sunsuper, we are expecting to continue this strong growth into 2018 as we are able to use our customer data to innovate and continually improve the customer experience.”