RVs a tourism focus

A new dumping station at the Francis Street carpark is part of the City of Greater Geraldton’s bid to be “RV-friendly”, which it says will bring a projected $15 million in tourism dollars.

As well as the dumping station for liquid waste, the City is offering 24-hour dedicated parking spots for caravans and RVs (recreation vehicles), which can be used to allow tourists a free overnight stay in town.

Campervan and Motor-home Club of Australia’s Geraldton “Batavians” chapter vice-president Mike Kendrick said the new parking spots had been full most nights since opening last month.

“Someone was telling me, they said ‘we were going to go straight through to Dongara’ but they stopped here, went into town, spent money — another bloke stopped here to get his car serviced — but that’s what it’s all about, getting people to stop and spend a little money,” he said.

CMCA Batavians president John Rogers said the free overnight stay for those in RVs was “a strawberry on top of the ice cream” that would entice people to stay in town and improve local business. “There’s something here now where they can stop overnight, at no cost, and they can decide whether they want to stay for a few days,” he said.

“Geraldton has a lot to offer but right now people don’t always want to stop if we’re not out there offering.

“It’s going to take a little convincing for people on the shopping paths, because you take a big figure like that but you’ve got to divide it up among each different shop — it’s not going to be a dirty-big part of the pie-graph in each place straight away — but with time we’ll improve.”

City of Greater Geraldton Mayor Shane Van Styn said the council had been working towards becoming more RV-friendly for more than five years.

“The decision to place an RV dumping station in the CBD rather than on the highway will give visitors a reason to drive into our city rather than just pass through,” he said.

“By capturing just those visitors who currently bypass our city, we can realistically increase overnight stays by 50 per cent, resulting in an estimated $9.5 million boost per year to our local economy.

“If you add $3.7 million in industrial flow-on effects, $1.6 million in value-added services and $860,000 in added salaries and wages, we can factor an additional $6.1 million in economic benefits to our business community.”

CMCA chairman Garry Lee said the free dumping station and free access to potable water will help the city establish itself as the hub for all RV requirements outside of Perth.

“Geraldton has all of these (RV-friendly requirements) which now enables us to promote Geraldton as the final opportunity to stock up on essential supplies or undertake repairs before you head north,” he said.

The $140,000 project was funded by Tourism WA and the City. The RV dumping station will be fully operational by the end of August.