Campervan and motorhome owners highlight their economic muscle as hundreds gather for rally

Campervan and motorhome owners are trying their best to quell a reputation as a stingy group of travellers during a large gathering in South Australia’s south-east this week.

About 1,200 members of the Campervan and Motorhome Club of Australia (CMCA) are spending the week in Mount Gambier for the organisation’s 37th national rally.

Recreational vehicles (RVs) can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and are then able to stay for free or cheaply in many places because of their self-contained nature.

But CMCA chief executive Richard Barwick said figures gathered by the organisation had found members spent on average $880 per week, per vehicle, in communities.

“They’re saving in some areas and spending in a lot more,” Mr Barwick said.

“Anyone who says they don’t spend in a local community really is naive because they do, and they do big time.”

Dollars add up

Figures from Tourism Research Australia show caravanners and campers spend about $236 per night on trips, less than the $275 on average for all domestic travellers.

But they can spend weeks or months on the road compared with the average of two nights per trip for domestic travellers overall.

Tourism Research Australia estimates Australians spent $14.3 billion on caravan and camping trips in 2023, the highest amount on record.

Mr Barwick estimated the rally could bring in up to $3 million for the Limestone Coast’s economy — with many visitors extending their trips either side of the event — while the City of Mount Gambier council estimated $1 million in the city itself.

Within the first two days of the rally, members had put $60,000 worth of shopping dockets into a draw designed to encourage them to shop locally.

“I think that the community will get a lot out of this right throughout the whole week,” Mr Barwick said.

Efforts to help locally

Buses have been arranged to bring members into the city’s main street, with some businesses opening especially on Sunday to welcome members.

“It’s great — I’m not going to mention the weather — but Mount Gambier has made us very welcome,” rally-goer Gayle Clark said.

Each day there have been different tours on offer for participants.

Boandik elder Uncle Ken Jones showed them around Port MacDonnell.

“Our ancient Boandik culture is still here. We’re still telling stories,” he said.

Club members have made 80 blankets to be donated to aged care homes.

Craft hall coordinator Marg Paulo said it was important to give back in between knitting, beading, macramé, sewing, and making greeting cards.

“They donate those blankets and then we put tags on them … and then they get donated to a local charity. Then they’re distributed around Mount Gambier,” she said.

Push to be ‘RV friendly’

The CMCA has about 62,000 members.

It operates a wiki website just for members showing 220,000 places points of interest suitable for campervans and motorhomes.

It also works with councils to declare “RV Friendly Towns”.

To be RV-friendly a town needs to have parking near the town centre for recreational vehicles, free or low-cost overnight parking, free access to drinking water water, and a free dump point for sewage.

Many of the 360 RV Friendly Towns are those less travelled by tourists, with some places refusing to make the move because of the perceived effect it could have on caravan parks.

“It’s been wonderfully well received,” Mr Barwick said of the program.

“It’s had state and federal government recognition, which is really important for the local government area to be able to put their stamp on it and say ‘listen, we’re doing something to attract tourism to our town’ because it’s not easy.

“It’s easy to get them to drive on by, but you need a reason for them to stop.”

As well as encouraging visits to different towns the program also aims to avoid travellers parking in truck stops or inappropriate locations. 

Safety campaign for members

There have been calls for mandatory training — and even a special licence — for drivers with bigger vehicles as the road toll rises.

The CMCA runs a road safety campaign called RVSafe focusing on towing, speed, using UHF radios, and overtaking.

“It’s great that they can have this manual, go through it, and both driver and co-driver are reading up about it,” Mr Barwick said.

“A lot of people said ‘I’ve been driving for 50 years, don’t tell me how to drive a vehicle or tow a vehicle’.

“But the elements are different once you get a car, trailer, or are towing a secondary vehicle behind a motorhome. So this safety campaign is really gaining some momentum.”

A second “solos” rally will be held in Penola next month.

Next’s year annual CMCA rally will be in Orange, NSW.