IT’S a classic response that the owners of commercial caravan parks are always at pains to avoid.
If, for some reason, they neglect to take a deposit for a booking, there’s a strong chance that the customer simply won’t turn up when the time comes, in response to poor weather conditions, some other issue, or simply a change of heart.
And that’s what some local business operators fear will happen from December 1 this year when the State Government’s ‘free camping’ thought bubble starts to take effect.
“You’ve got people from Melbourne booking sites at all these camping grounds around the state, without having to pay any money. But what’s the incentive to turn up if there’s a poor weather report or something else happens? They just won’t come, the sites will remain vacant and people who would like to go on a holiday will miss out,” said one Fish Creek tourism operator at the weekend.
The other aspect of that is if fewer people turn up, it will have an impact on the local economy.
It’s potentially an even worse outcome than commercial caravan park operators losing business to free camping opportunities in national parks and reserves, or being pressed to lower their charges to meet the market.
It was simply a dumb idea in the first place.
No one objects to paying the $40.70 a night you have to pay for a space in the Tidal River Camping Ground, for example, if you’re lucky enough to get a spot over the Christmas-January break. It’s still a cheap holiday.
And most would say that the $7.3 million lost to the government’s coffers in booking fees would be better spent on improving the experience for campers and other holidaymakers, or funding more environmental initiatives through the cash-strapped Parks Victoria operation.
There’s even doubts about the initiative doing what it’s supposed to do, and provide the most disadvantaged in the community the chance to have a holiday. Would they even have the caravans and camping equipment needed to take advantage of the offer in the first place?
And this from a State Government which is reportedly adding $80 million-a-day to public debt, while overseeing a 95 per cent reduction in essential road maintenance.
Having put this unneeded measure in place, the State Government must now monitor the vacancy rate, establish if the camping customers are still coming and readvertise the vacant sites for late bookings.
If it’s all too much, they’ll need to call the ‘free camping’ initiative a trial and discontinue it after June 30, 2025 and introduce a ‘holiday voucher’ system for use with any accommodation booking, private or parks, if they want to save face in the run-up to the 2026 election.