March 2011

 Seniors play important role in regional economies

Govt blueprint for luring grey nomads to the bush

By Dennis Amor
  Have your say

CARAVANNERS have welcomed the findings of a state government inquiry into boosting grey nomad tourism in regional Queensland.

The parliamentary committee’s report makes 19 recommendations aimed at increasing the number of senior road travellers and using their valuable tourism dollars to improve local economies.

"Grey nomads are a significant tourism market for regional Queensland," Economic Development Committee chairman Evan Moorhead said.

"Although grey nomads tend to spend less on average per day than other visitors to Queensland, they often travel for longer periods and visit regional areas," he added.

The report recommends that the state government provides marketing expertise to local councils to help council officers develop their own grey nomad tourism industry.

Funding would also be available to regional tourism organisations outside south-east Queensland to assist with marketing regional attractions to grey nomads.

"The committee believes increasing grey nomad numbers would significantly benefit regional communities because their grey tourist dollars have a larger impact there," Mr Moorhead said.

"Providing assistance and funding to local councils and regional tourism organisations, which have the local knowledge to know where best to use this, would be a significant outcome of this inquiry."

To address skills shortages in regional Queensland, the report also recommends investigating the benefits of employing grey nomads in social service areas, such as child protection and community corrections.

Sixty-seven-year-old caravanner Jim Toghill from Queensland told Caravanning News: "The report is a breath of fresh air. There's no doubt some towns in Queensland and other states mistakenly underestimate the value of us grey nomads, dismissing us as a load of freeloaders.

"Although there's an increasing number of travellers who prefer to free camp because of rising caravan park fees they still spend freely on fuel, food and other basics."

The report said tourism played an important role in the Sunshine State's economy, creating demand and generating employment across a range of different industries, including hospitality, retail trade and transport.

In 2009, domestic overnight visitors spent an estimated $15.7 billion in Queensland, with over half in the state's regional areas.

The report believed population trends could predict the size of the grey tourism market, which was likely to continue growing.

The over-65 age group in Australia was likely to increase from 2.6 million (13 per cent) in 2004 to 5.2 million (26 per cent) by 2050, it said.

Based on existing trends, this suggested that the grey tourism market in general could also continue growing as the number of older Australians increases.

The committee believed that an education campaign through Queensland Health, local health centres and with the help of GPs, had a role to play in educating grey nomads on the importance of pre-trip health checks, ensuring they carry enough medication and their health summaries, as well as considering undertaking a first aid course.

"Caravan parks play an important role in grey nomad tourism and form an important part of Queensland's tourism infrastructure," it said.

"The committee believes that a variety of accommodation types should be available to meet the different needs of grey nomads.

"The committee suggests that there is a need to provide accommodation for grey nomads that would prefer to free camp, but that this should not be at the expense of commercial operators, given that they also are important providers of accommodation for grey nomads."

It admitted that in some circumstances it could be difficult for local governments to assess the impact of free camping on commercial operations.

"The committee therefore supports the Department of Environment and Resource Management’s' suggestion for its development of tools and practical templates to assist local governments with land management plans when offering trust land for caravan parks and camping.

"If local councils provide basic camping facilities for grey nomads, councils need to appropriately cost these facilities to determine the potential to charge a fee for usage.

"The imposition of such a fee would allow councils to better regulate demand for facilities and allow councils to service the areas on a regular basis," it said.

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More and more grey nomads heading into the bush

An outline of the inquiry's
19 recommendations

The committee put forward 19 recommendations suggesting:

1: Queensland Government funds a comprehensive evaluation of grey nomads, including their economic impact in Queensland.

2: Queensland Government evaluates the impact of existing and new policies on grey nomads and make the evaluations public by tabling them in the Queensland Parliament within a year.

3: Tourism Queensland provides advice to local governments on methods to measure the numbers and expenditure of grey nomads in their regions and how to undertake cost-benefit studies to determine the full impacts on their communities.

4: Queensland Health investigates the merits of coordinating and delivering an education campaign delivered through local health centres and GPs to provide advice on travellers' medical responsibilities when visiting remote and regional Queensland

5: Queensland Government develops tools and practical templates to assist local governments develop land management plans when offering trust land for caravan parks and camping.

6: Queensland Government provides support to local governments to assist with the application of cost recovery on the accommodation services they provide.

7: Tourism Queensland reviews its grey nomad tourism marketing messages to include images of grey nomads engaging in different activities that reflect the socialising and adventurous aspects in rural and regional Queensland; portray them as individuals, couples and/or recreational vehicle travellers, and are specific to the different groups within the grey nomad tourism market (i.e. recreational
vehicle traveller, drive tourist and caravanner).

8: Tourism Queensland investigates opportunities for expanding its marketing to grey nomads.

9: Tourism Queensland explores the potential for targeting grey nomads and promoting rural and regional Queensland at the annual Brisbane Caravan and Camping Show.

10: Tourism Queensland encourages and provides assistance to local governments and regional tourism organisations to promote their regions to grey nomads at the same show.

11: Tourism Queensland takes a leadership role in coordinating the collaboration between local councils and regional tourism organisations to develop a joint regional marketing strategy; provides marketing expertise to local councils which are resource-poor, and conducts research identifying how grey nomads source their travel information and why they choose to travel to different areas of Queensland.

12: Queensland Government makes available a grant funding round to regional tourism organisations located outside south-east Queensland for marketing the attractions of their local area directly to the grey nomad market.

13: Tourism Queensland reviews its Drive Tourism Program to include a section specifically targeting the grey nomad market.

14: Tourism Queensland provides guidance to regional tourism organisations and local governments on how to build on the foundation of the well-established tourism-themed routes to offer drive tourists other experiences off the main routes.

15: Queensland Government investigates the benefits of a grey nomad employment program in social service areas, such as child protection and community corrections, operating similarly to the Grey Nomad Teacher Employment Strategy.

16: Queensland Government conducts a process and content evaluation of all Queensland Government-run or funded employment and volunteer programs targeted at grey nomads, with the evaluation to be tabled in Parliament.

17: Queensland Government supports local governments and communities to develop local employment and volunteer programs.

18: Queensland Government includes information about the various methods by which local councils and other volunteer and employing organisations can communicate opportunities for employment to grey nomads in a booklet regarding developing best practice grey nomad employment and volunteering programs.

19: Queensland Government includes information about incentives available for grey nomad employment and volunteering programs in its booklet regarding developing best practice grey nomad employment and volunteering programs.