Tauranga people in their 40s spending large on campervans post-Covid

Tauranga's Richard Olsen made the decision to buy the business RV Mega in a post-lockdown world. Photo / George Novak

Tauranga travel bugs are flocking to their nearest campervan dealerships with money to burn rather than mourning cancelled overseas holidays.

Local campervan sellers are seeing a big spike in sales and rentals, with "new entrant" buyers in their 40s leading the way.

Four months ago Tauranga's Richard Olsen decided to buy the business RV Mega in a post-lockdown world.

Olsen thought it was a risk worth taking but he was "very, very nervous" and had a lot of "sleepless nights" as the ball started rolling again post-Covid, he said.

Tauranga's Richard Olsen made the decision to buy the business RV Mega in a post-lockdown world. Photo / George Novak

However, he was quickly reassured as people flocked to buy campervans, motorhomes and RVs instead of going for their planned overseas holidays.

"The last few months have been busier than our whole summer period ... sales have exceeded expectations."

Although it had been a "great start", he didn't want to "count the chickens before they hatch".

When Olsen took over, he decided to drop the rental side of the business due to a lack of overseas visitors and concentrate on retail and the workshop.

He said they had seen a big increase in "new entrant" buyers who had never owned a campervan or motorhome.

Almost everyone who was buying had to cancel overseas holiday plans and thought they would buy a van and holiday locally for a few years, he said.

"They hold value really well. It's quite a risk-free investment as buyers can get a decent amount of money back."

He said they were used to the demographic of retirees but were seeing a lot more younger people, particularly in their 40s.

Bay of Plenty Tourism head of destination marketing Kath Low said they had spoken to loads of "keen domestic travellers" at the Motorhome, Caravan and Leisure Show near Hamilton earlier this month, who wanted to visit the coastal Bay of Plenty, encouraged by the region's proximity to big population centres like Auckland and Waikato.

Head of destination marketing for Tourism Bay of Plenty Kath Low. Photo / Supplied

"Domestic visitor spend reached $864 million to the year-ending March 2020, which comprised 77.9 per cent of the coastal Bay of Plenty's total visitor spend of $1.109 billion. We are relying on the strength of our domestic market and it is vital to our economy."

The coastal Bay of Plenty's two largest visitor spend markets are Waikato and Auckland, collectively bringing about $450 million to the region, she said.

"Though not spending on hotels or motels, campervanners are known to spend more on attractions and also in the region's popular campgrounds"

She said domestic visitors were the coastal Bay of Plenty's "largest market" and "significantly contributed to the region's economy".

"The strength of our domestic market comes from being a place with so much Kiwis love in a holiday destination."

Tourism Bay of Plenty had launched several campaigns aiming to bring more domestic tourism to the coastal Bay of Plenty.

Owner of Kaimai Caravan and Cabin Rentals, Andrew Melville, said they had been busier than usual and had fielded a lot of calls for summer already.

Business did take a while to pick up again post-Covid for Melville, who said they had a worrying downturn straight out of lockdown.

However, things began climbing as the alert levels eased and people showed they were far more interested in "exploring their own backyards" than in previous years, he said.

However, the business planned to do away with caravans and focus almost solely on their cabin business, which was doing well post-Covid.

"More people seem to be getting stuck into home renovations so we are getting more interest in long-term cabin rentals."

The cabins worked like mini-homes as they were self-contained, which was attractive to people using overseas holiday funds to get things done on their homes, he said.

Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Matt Cowley said that "generally speaking, tourists provide better economic benefits the longer they stay in the region".

He said tourists who stay longer tend to make purchases at a wider range of local businesses.

"Campervanners are an important market to help tourist business recover from Covid-19, particularly in the colder and quieter winter months."