Discovery Parks has acquired the Top Parks brand, creating Australia’s largest network of parks.
Under a new licensing model, Top Parks member parks will remain independently owned but will form part of the growing Discovery Parks network.
The combined group creates a network of more than 220 parks and a loyalty base of over 140,000 camping enthusiasts, making it the single largest group of caravan, holiday and resort parks in the country, Discovery CEO Grant Wilckens said.
“It’s the logical next step for Discovery,” he said. “Our customers travel all over Australia and we want to offer them great places to stay and loyalty rewards, even where we don’t own our own parks.”
Top Parks chairman Richard Emerson said the agreement would position Top Parks members for strong future growth, with “clear synergies between the groups around culture and customer experience”.
Under the agreement, both the Discovery Parks and Top Parks brands will be retained, allowing for differentiation between the company-owned and licensed parks.
Mr Wilckens said the deal would provide licensed parks with access to Discovery Parks’ greater purchasing power as Australia’s largest park owner-operator, as well as its digital marketing expertise.
Top Parks and Discovery Parks members would have access to a new customer rewards program, G’Day Rewards, launched at the Adelaide Caravan and Camping Show in mid February.
“You might not think about holiday parks as innovative digital service providers but that’s where Discovery Parks is heading. We are investing significantly to be able to provide a better customer experience.,” Mr Wilckens said.
“Just as we are using digital technology to turn on the lights at home, do our shopping and manage our security, our holiday parks will be tapping into this technology to deliver a range of new and innovative services to customers in the near future.”
Mr Wilckens, who is also chair of the Caravan Industry Association of Australia, said the deal would make Adelaide the national hub for the caravan and camping industry, worth $19 billion to the national economy.
He said that Discovery bucked the five per cent downturn in the national caravan and camping market in 2017, growing revenue by nearly 14 per cent year on year.
The company has spent more than $11 million in key parks in South Australia and $30 million at parks nationally this financial year.
“With the backing of our majority owners, Sunsuper, we are expecting to continue this strong growth into 2018 as we are able to use our customer data to innovate and continuously improve the customer experience,” Mr Wilckens says.
I guess this is all very nice for the Park Owners and the Discovery Parks Organisation to see more money rolling in, however what benefit does the travelling retiree’s have with looking for a quiet location and financially who just want a nice place to stay, without the Noisy Play areas and treeless smaller sites that appears could be the organisations thrust into the planning procedure of the future what we used to call the “Caravan Park”.
And then caravan Park Owners wonder why there are so many “Free Campers” with there own Toilets and showers and Solar Panels!!!
Signed….Concerned
I’d love to know where the caravan parks are that are pictured
There will always be a need to suit both types of caravanners – those that want everything provided and will pay, and those that have a more self contained rig and don’t want to pay too much. Community groups are starting to fill the gap by providing cheaper camping in sports clubs and Showgrounds.
Also the Youcamps private campsites are growing steadily as an alternative. If caravanning continues to grow – many more camp sites are needed than can be provided by existing caravan parks.
Long live free camping
I agree with all of the above