Wallets on wheels
The Kiwi motorhome sales business is worth millions, but it’s the vehicles’ wealthy buyers who are driving local economies.
Impatient drivers refer to motorhomes as road slugs or maggots because they’re white and crawling. But New Zealand’s growing motorhome fleet is an economic force to be reckoned with, and these ‘‘wallets on wheels’’ are literally driving business into small towns all over the country.
Officially, any vehicle with permanently-fitted cooking and sleeping facilities taking up more than half the floor area, is supposed to be registered as a motorhome.
According to the New Zealand Transport Agency we have 29,582 of them, 6000 more than in 2011.
Commercial rentals account for at least 5000 vehicles, so the vast majority are privately owned by New Zealanders and tourists who buy secondhand campers, or get vans retro-fitted.
Kiwi motorhome explosion
The New Zealand Motor Caravan Association (NZMCA) has 73,000 members, most of them couples, and membership is growing about 12 per cent a year.
In March, the country’s biggest motorhome and caravan show in Auckland recorded between $28m and $30m worth of sales.
That included 130 motorhomes costing anywhere from $100,000 for a lower-end model, right up to $300,000 for a fancy one with slide out sides.
‘‘They’re just like an apartment on wheels, they’re so highly speced, ‘‘ says Chris Gaskell, managing director of show organiser Spot On Exhibitions.
About half the buyers were over 60s realising long held dreams to hit the road, often after downsizing the family home.
Mobile holiday homes
Real estate agent Sharron King and husband Chris, bought their first motor home more than 30 years ago and she says it’s much better than being tied to a bach.
‘‘You can change the scenery when you’ve had enough.’’
The couple live just north of Christchurch and have three motorhomes - the largest a ninemetre bus - which they share with their adult daughters.
King hates being lumped in with the irresponsible freedom campers who litter scenic spots and poo in public places. ’’People look at us as being the same, but we’re not.’’
Wallets on wheels
The Kings spend about 50 nights away a year, and spend is the operative word - the Easter rally they attended dropped more than $25,000 in Kaikoura, one of 47 towns the NZMCA has designated as ‘‘motorhome friendly.’’
The association has invested $1m promoting towns that welcome motorhomers by providing freedom camping areas and waste dump stations, which it often pays for.
Free advertising of events to members carries real clout, as evidenced by the 400 motorhomes that parked up in a paddock set aside for them at the Marton country music festival.
Westport is motorhome friendly and Buller Mayor Garry Howard, sees a world of difference between messy freedom campers travelling in unselfcontained vehicles and these ‘‘desirable tourists.’’
‘‘They’re the winers and diners, they don’t just go into the supermarket for the basics.’’
What about the foreigners?
The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment says the number of international visitors who did somefreedom camping during their stay surpassed 100,000 last year compared with just 10,000 in the early 2000s - and they spent about $380m.
The Responsible Camping Forum representing tourism operators, local authorities and government agencies, recently commissioned a review of freedom camping research.
It found campers tended to come from Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Europe and were usually aged under 35, or older couples travelling without children.
But it wasn’t clear how many Kiwi freedom campers were in fact seasonal workers or homeless people.
People freedom camped to enjoy the scenery, avoid crowded camp grounds, and save money, but they also stayed in commercial holiday parks.
Marketing director for STA Travel Global UK Emma Hudson, has seen a big growth in demand for campervans from young travellers heading here.
She says they spend a lot and a German visitor, who stays 68 days on average, will contribute $10,000 to our economy.
Later in life, one in five return to destinations they visited in their youth, Hudson says. ’’It’s a trip down memory lane.’’
CamperMate and Geozone apps attract 37,000 users a day in peak season and founder Adam Hutchinson says they are not all noodle munchers living on the smell of an oily rag.
By anonymously tracking 186 app users and matching their movements with credit card transactions, he found they each spent about $2000 over three weeks, 20 per cent of it on retail items such as clothing and camping gear.
Hutchinson’s survey of app users showed close to half chose New Zealand specifically because they could freedom camp, and he says tighter restrictions might cost us a valuable chunk of our visitor market.
Camping Act angst
The Freedom Camping Act was passed in 2011 to overcome an accommodation shortage during the Rugby World Cup, and it was left up to individual local authorities to introduce restrictions.
The results have not always been pretty.
So-called ‘‘vanpackers’’ touring in old vehicles without any toilet facilities, cop a lot of the blame, and anecdotally, young Europeans coming here to enjoy our clean green outdoors are among the worst offenders.
Stickers denoting certified selfcontained vehicles have been forged, and many travellers skip the country without paying fines for illegal camping.
Gaskell worries that the ‘‘nasty little shitters’’ will jeopardise it for everyone.
‘‘It’s a privilege to be able to freedom camp and if you abuse it, someone will take it away.’’
Some local authorities have responded by restricting freedom camping to self-contained vehicles and the Standards New Zealand definition of self-contained was recently tightened at the instigation of the NZMCA.
It was concerned that portapotties were stashed in the back of vans, with no intention of ever being used.
Now, as well as having the capacity to store up to three days’ water and waste, certified selfcontained vehicles must have a toilet that can be used inside when the bed is made up.
David Hammond does consultancy work for councils grappling with freedom camping issues and thinks the standard should require flushable loos.
He is helping councils tweak their by-laws so the definition of self-contained includes a fully plumbed toilet.
‘‘The only reason they haven’t gone the whole hog and said you have to have a plumbed-in toilet is that some of the older NZMCA vehicles probably don’t lend themselves to that sort of design.’’
Combating the filthy few
Increased Government funding for tourism infrastructure is starting to address a lack of toilets, dump stations and rubbish bins.
But Buller Mayor Garry Howard, says the differing rules on freedom camping are confusing and West Coast local authorities are attempting to align their bylaws, something the rest of the country should emulate.
‘‘How does a tourist know when they’ve crossed the border between the Buller, Grey and Westland districts?’’
Minister of Tourism Paula Bennett agrees that sticking with the status quo is not an option and changing the Act is a possibility.
However, she is acutely conscious that freedom camping in the great outdoors is also a cherished Kiwi tradition.
‘‘It cannot continue the way it is, but we need a New Zealand-wide conversation about what the options are.’’