New cabins, accessible bathrooms and camp kitchens. The Australian Government’s Caravan Parks Grant Program has funded these and more. Run by Austrade, the grant has helped 110 recipients to reinvent their parks and offer more to their customers.
Three grant recipients explain in detail how the funding has made a difference.
Crestview Tourist Park, Queanbeyan, New South Wales
‘It meant I could renovate 7 cabins at once,’ says Stuart Roberts, owner of Crestview Tourist Park. He’s discussing a major benefit of getting funding under the Caravan Parks Grant Program.
‘The size of the project made our order a commercial one. That made it easier to get trades – the kitchen-fitters, plumbers, curtain people – to book the work in.’
Treating the cabins as a job lot gave them a consistent standard and look. Matching the $100,000 grant with equal funds, the park upgraded its playground, too.
From Queanbeyan, Crestview Tourist Park offers budget lodgings within easy reach of Canberra. Stuart saw its potential staying there by chance on his way to the Snowy Mountains. He bought the park from its previous family owners in 2013.
The former real estate agent and his company have since upgraded the park infrastructure. They spent more than $1 million renovating some 50 cabins and villas.
The work was done in small batches. By 2022, only 7 cabins in the park’s centre remained in their original 30-year-old state.
Winning a grant fast-tracked the renovation of these cabins. It was welcome help in the final stage of the park’s makeover.
News of the grant raised community confidence in the project. People were excited to see the results.
After earlier renovations, regular guests often chose to upgrade to refurbished cabins. When the 7 new cabins opened, occupancy quickly rose to 70%. That’s up from 55% the previous year.
And customer compliments keep coming.
‘Some people look down on caravan parks as holiday accommodation,’ Roberts says. ‘In the current economic climate, I think they’re just right for everyday Australians.’
The seven renovated cabins at the heart of Crestview Tourist Park were funded under the grant program.
Barn Hill Beachside Station Stay, outside Broome, Western Australia
Bryden Bell’s parents founded Barn Hill Beachside Station Stay in the late 1980s. It really took off in the 2000s. Travellers’ expectations have changed a lot since, says Bell, the property’s current manager.
The 128-site caravan park sits on a cattle station along rugged coastline in Western Australia’s remote Kimberley region. Yet, today’s visitors still want some creature comforts. A cafe is a minimum.
‘Our facilities were outdated,’ admits Bell. That’s why she applied for a Caravan Parks Grant to upgrade the park’s shop to a combined cafe and kiosk. The funding also helped to demolish and replace the reception building.
‘Travellers want to be able to buy [prepared] food,’ says Bell. ‘They want a good area for recreation and entertainment. And there are so many more families these days. We’re trying to cater for all those things and people.’
The cafe/kiosk has enabled the sale of prepared food and ‘created a really nice area for people to relax’. It has added to existing activities like BBQ nights and open-air band performances.
Now, the park is gaining renown for its pizza, oven-fresh bread and vanilla slice. Locals increasingly come for weekend stays from Broome, 130 km north.
With funding help for the new reception and cafe/kiosk, the park could focus on logistics. Transporting materials to this remote region is complex. With the park open April to October, construction had to be in the off season. To complicate matters, the off season is also the wet season.
To speed up the project, the park used 2 shipping containers it already owned. It then built a pavilion roof over them. One container houses the kiosk/cafe. The other houses the reception. The latter has an accessible toilet. The grant contributed to the wastewater infrastructure for this.
The result is an eye-catching structure in bold orange and blue. It’s next to a bowling green and other landscaping. ‘We’ve just got so many “wow”s from our visitors. People are really impressed,’ says Bell.
‘We started off as a low-impact tourism station, but today we’re a caravan park. This grant has helped us upgrade to give us a proper, building-code-compliant area for food preparation, as well as some universal-access facilities.’
Berri Riverside Holiday Park, Berri, South Australia
Keeping up with the neighbours is essential for Berri Riverside Holiday Park. Community-run since 1972, the spacious park is a mainstay of South Australia’s popular Riverland region. However, the arrival of big commercial operators in the last decade has increased competition.
The Caravan Parks Grant Program has helped the award-winning park stay in front. A $98,000 grant helped upgrade its playground this year. The new $203,000 playground is fully accessible, the first in a holiday park in the region. It has a wheelchair carousel and basket swings. Small and large slides cater to different ages and abilities.
Berri Riverside Holiday Park escaped physical damage during the major Murray River flood in 2022–23. State government River Revival vouchers have helped the region recover. ‘Even though we took a financial hit, we’re thankful we didn’t need to rebuild.’ So says Jim Rosenthal, chair of the Berri War Memorial Community Centre which runs the park.
However, the Riverland remains foremost a family-holiday destination. Playgrounds are important facilities. That meant Berri Riverside Holiday Park did need to rebuild its playground after lukewarm feedback.
Rosenthal recalls how the park was once able to upgrade slowly using small grants. After competitors opened, it needed bigger funds for larger renovations. ‘That’s why we applied for the Caravan Parks Grant for the playground,’ he says. ‘It helped us react quickly.’
Many grey nomads also visit Berri, and the emphasis on inclusivity extends beyond the playground. There are accessible amenities. Several of the park’s 20 apartments can accommodate wheelchair users.
‘It’s not just that you can attract a wider clientele with accessible facilities. These are now increasingly expected,’ says Rosenthal.
He also highlights the Berri Riverside Holiday Park’s social role. It’s more than an accommodation provider with its apartments, 90 cabins and 120 camping sites. It sponsors sporting and other local bodies, from the tennis club to the Girl Guides.
The park is renowned for its many leisure facilities. Swimming pools, a huge mini-golf course and a riverboat are just a few. Because of this, it often provides a free event venue.
‘It’s important we continue to do well, because our profits don’t just go back into the park,’ says Rosenthal. ‘They also bring benefits to the wider community.’
Learn more
The Caravan Park Grant Program helps improve visitor infrastructure. Improving visitor infrastructure is a priority of Thrive 2030, the long-term strategy for Australia’s visitor economy. Read about THRIVE 2030.
The caravan and camping sector is a major contributor to the visitor economy. The Tourism Research Australia (TRA) website has the latest statistics for caravan and camping. This caravan and camping data comes from TRA’s National Visitor Survey (NVS).
Growing the visitor economy
THRIVE 2030 is Australia’s national strategy for the long-term, sustainable growth of the visitor economy.