We have a 130 lt. fridge in our caravan and no other fridge like an Engel , We buy all our supplies in the towns we visit and like visiting the local butcher , But when talking to other on the road they say they have the freezer full of food they buy in the bigger city to save money . And then I see lots of people talking about the money they spend in small towns.

We have been into town ( Blayney, NSW) three times since we have been staying out at Carcour Dam, 10k away.

In those three times, we have spent $195.00, total - nx that is $65.00 each time, not bad I reckon. This was spent in supermarket, cafe, chemist, and good pub lunch.

Wombat 280 wrote:

---

Recently I happened into a sizable town that had recently hosted  a major caravan conference and was surprised at the ill feeling held by a lot of locals towards the event.

Apparently  Council , shop keepers , local  clubs mangers, and small organizations were told by the event organizing committee that this event would bring many tourist dollars to the town.  Based on that  Council provided extra power out lets put in additional ablution blocks  laid paths and hard stands  and all the other facilities necessary to make the event a success.

To date according to locals they are still waiting for this flood of tourist dollars  . Sad to say they have all vowed never again  to put up their hand  host such groups again.

 Unfortunately  this is not an isolated case  and the word was out in local government circles of the lack of return ,  so if towns to host  Grey Nomad events are hard to come by  in the future we have no one to blame but ourselves  for not been good community members .  We need to  bear in mind  that  all the facilities  provided by local council are paid for by the local ratepayer and not the fees you pay to attend  the event.

 

This sounds like poor management to me.

Not the  the Campers  at fault here.   The council  maybe the problem

You have to have a return on any investment,    These are  permanent improvements to a facility to cater for a  function attracting a large group.       Benefits in revenue and business transactions can be very lucrative.   Tamworth springs to mind.               Adding infrastructure to cater for a one off event (e.g. Olympic Games)  and gaining better facilities for the ongoing benefit of the community is not a new idea.   It's a good business practice.               Like any project, investment,  it needs to be researched to forecast what the possible cash flow into the town would be. Also the ongoing return on the investment over two years at least.

I am sure someone would have also looked at the ongoing usage of the facilities and forecast the income that could be gained from it.

Would a council just take the word of a function organiser  !    I wouldn't.   The ratepayers should be looking for  bum or two to kick.

---

 

-- Edited by elliemike on Friday 30th of January 2015 09:14:22 PM

Funny how some towns just have a mind set.In another life I was asked to organise a rally at Harcourt Vic.We rang the shire and said @ 200 Harleys /300 folk for 48hrs.Wonderful ! they said.Rang the pub to supply all the booze ...not interested.!The local catering had no interest in dinner and brekky.So it was outsourced to Bendigo for Grog,rubbish skips and security.I rang the local Lions club and they said yes please ,we can feed you,and boy was it great !$ 5000 went to Lions and the rest went nowhere local .Yet we gave the wineries real support both days and every member was told not to go near the pub !! John

A couple of years back when I was living in Biggenden, there was a CMCA Solo's Rally held at the showgrounds there. The local ladies club catered all the meals in the showgrounds hall.
The town made a killing with the local hairdresser doing very well and the Op Shop even stayed open on the Sunday. Said that weekend was the best takings they had in a very long time.
These small towns need to embrace any rally coming to town, it benefits both sides.

A single event doesn't represent all that's happening out there in RV land and there are also examples of the opposite -

HOW OFTEN DO WE HEAR ????

You have no doubt heard the story that freedom campers do not spend much money and that they are not worth much, tourism wise, to a community. Even a certain CP association's research claim we only spend about 1/3 as much as those that camp in their CPs. Well just saw this post on the CMCA's FB page from a camper who attended the Maroochydore school club camp site over the Christmas school holiday break (6 weeks). Guess you can form your own opinion. Even heard one camper bought a new car while camping there.

"WOW WHAT A GREAT RESULT. I have been talking to the caretaker at Maroochydore School . Rob told me that the total of the shopper dockets during the Christmas period was $104041.00 and camping fees amounted to $15123.00 by CMCA members"

You can check it out here www.facebook.com/CampervanandMotorhomeClubOfAustral

www.facebook.com/Freechoicecamping

G'day all

Okay - and without any of us knowing the 100% facts of the original caravan get-together, it is hard to give a 'best' answer to the issue

However, if the council has spend money with infrastructure as detailed in the OP, then those facilities will have many years of use for both the locals, for daily travellers, and campers ~ so all is not wasted

Perhaps someone in the know can contact whichever council it is and suggest they get in contact with the CMCA and start some negotiations for RV Friendly town status. That could be a welcome start to recovery

As to buying up big and using a freezer when travelling - we do not do that, nor do we recommend it ... as said above, the expense of buying the freezer and the running costs (probably) outweigh the supposed savings from the big smoke

For ourselves, we're in the road for 8-9+ months each year and we're always buying stuff wherever we go, enough for the next few days only ~ so our expenditure is spread all over the place.
Phil

Ozzie_Traveller wrote:

---

However, if the council has spend money with infrastructure as detailed in the OP, then those facilities will have many years of use for both the locals, for daily travellers, and campers ~ so all is not wasted

---

 Phil, these facilities are generally portable units, they are brought in to supplement the meagre facilities in the show ground or field day site that the large rallies occupy. I have been to the last 4 NACC national rallies and we shared the costs with the local council for the extra facilities. The CMCA also share the costs of the demountable facilities and they have power facilities that they use to supplement the existing permanent power outlets.

In the 4 rallies I have been to the communities have thanked us for our support of the locals. I think there may have been a bit of sour grapes from selective traders who did not correctly anticipate their market. I was talking to some Ulysses members yesterday and with them the boot is on the other foot, the local traders don't seem to have got their act together be able to supply the bikers needs.