FREE CAMPING DEAD IN ALICE

Fred-485

The Caravan Parks have won. I’ve heard on the bush telegraph that Blatherskite Park in Alice Springs is no more.

You might recall we touched on this story almost a year ago when this story broke.

To give you the short of it, the government-run showgrounds were copping a lot of flack from local caravan parks, who claimed they were undercutting caravan parks, and inhibiting the ability for the caravan parks to succeed in the region.

The low cost option of Blatherskite Park was one of the only reasons many of my fellow travellers were able to enjoy Alice Springs and the surrounding region. It was cheaper and had good facilities, it was pet friendly, and in peak seasons would have brought in a huge amount of revenue for the local government. Sadly, the complaint was heard loud and clear by local tourism bodies, and the cheaper, dog-friendly camping option in Alice is now being shut down.

Never before have I seen such an open display of vested interests impacting a competitive market. The leader of the fight against Blatherskite is Councillor Heenan, owner of an Alice RV Park. You heard right - councillor, and RV Park owner. Need I say more? I’m sure you can join the dots here.

I’m not against staying in caravan parks, in fact I love the safety, community and friendliness that comes with park stays. However, we, as travellers, want freedom of choice, and now our choice is either stay in expensive caravan parks, or move on to the next region. We’ve seen before that the removal of a budget camping option is a dangerous move for a region to make. This could just make Alice Springs one of the most expensive regions for an RVer to visit.

 

What are your thoughts? Is Alice still on the bucket list? Email me at [email protected]

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