Free camping enthusiasts have hit back at suggestions the practice is having a negative impact on Leeton and other small towns, slamming proposals to restrict free camping sites from being within 50-100km of towns.
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An avid free camper himself Phil Jones pointed to the results of a national survey conducted by Freedom Camping Australia, which he says found the practice of free camping was bringing huge economic benefits to towns across Australia.
“Little outback towns that make an effort to be RV friendly, those are the towns that will attract the people who are on the road all of the months of the year,” he said on Wednesday.
Mr Jones said the practice had a flow on effect, pointing out campers would often shop for groceries, fill up with fuel and maybe even get a haircut in the towns where they stopped – towns that frequently were struggling to attract tourists and other customers.
“Cashflow keeps businesses going, if those people just drive straight through the town then everybody loses,” he said.
Mr Jones was sympathetic to the issues facing caravan and holiday park owners but said the industry needed to modernise and cater to their changing market if they wanted to survive. Mr Jones said contemporary motor homes left little to the imagination and campers didn’t need the extra facilities that caravan parks charged for. “more and more people are going into these parks and saying I just don’t need it all,” he said, suggesting parks offer a discount to self-sufficient motor homes to make themselves more attractive to what is a growing market.
