Herberton now a RV friendly town
31 Jan 10
What is it?
The RV Friendly TownTM Scheme is a CMCA initiative aimed at assisting mobile travellers, as they journey throughout this wonderful country. This includes motorhomes, campervans, caravans and 4WDs.
An RV Friendly TownTM is one that has met a set of guidelines to ensure they provide a certain amount of amenities, and a certain level of services for these travellers. When they enter a town displaying the RV Friendly TownTM sign, they know they will be welcome, certain services will be provided for them that may not always be available in other centres, and they will have access to a safe place to stay overnight and for a longer period.
How does a town qualify?
Before any town can be appointed to the scheme, there is a set of criteria that must be met, which include:
Essential
- Provision of appropriate parking within town centre with access to a general shopping area with groceries & fresh produce.
- Provision of short term (24/48/72+ hour) parking within town.
- Provision of long term parking, to be at a reasonable rate.
- Access to medical facilities or an applicable evacuation plan.
- Access to a pharmacy or a procedure to obtain pharmaceutical products.
- Access to potable water.
- Access to a Dump Point, if not in town, within a distance of 20 to 50 kilometres from town.
- Council to provide one person as contact.
- RV Friendly Town signs to be erected within the town precinct.
- A service centre able to provide basic vehicle repairs.
- Visitor Information Centre (VIC) with appropriate parking facilities within a reasonable distance.
- VIC to provide a town map showing essential facilities such as hospital, medical services, fuel, shopping area, dump point, fresh water etc.
CMCA will offer the Council:
- 2 X 600 mm X 690 mm roadside ‘RV Friendly' signs at cost price. These signs display the ‘RV' sign and have the words ‘Supported by' under it and then display the CMCA logo.
- Promotion of the town on the Club website, in The Wanderer and The Wanderer's Mate, subject to certain terms and conditions.
As well as the above, we also look at the general attitude of the Council and the business people.
After all, it is called the RV ‘Friendly' Town Scheme!
This Scheme offers town business owners the opportunity to be
innovative in meeting the needs of these mobile travellers while at the
same time growing their businesses.
RV Friendly Location
If a town does not meet all the criteria of an RV Friendly TownTM,
it may qualify as an RV Friendly Location. An RV Friendly Location may
not have medical facilities in the town but it will have an evacuation
service such as an ambulance either in the town or a nearby town or a
Flying Doctor Service. Other services that may not be available in the
town but will be available close by are a Visitor Information Centre, a
dump point and vehicle repair services.
What are the benefits?
There are many economic benefits to the local businesses as the RV community spend an average of $652 per week whilst travelling.
There is an increased patronage of the tourist attractions in and around the town.
Once mobile travellers enter an RV Friendly TownTM they know they are going to be welcome.
They will be able to park adjacent to the shopping precinct while they top up with supplies.
They can do their banking in comfort, post their mail, and check out the restaurants and clubs for food and entertainment.
They will find a dump point in the town, or not too great a distance from the town.
They may be able to have mechanical work done on their vehicle as well as fill up with fuel and gas.
The Visitor Information Centre should have a map showing them all the local attractions, the location of emergency services and their contact numbers, attractions that are RV suitable and where internet services are available.
Then they will be able to park in a comfortable layover area while they sit back and decide which tourist attractions they would like to see during their visit.
There may be toilet and shower facilities at the layover area, and they will be able to refresh their water tanks.
They can visit those attractions marked on their map with the RV sign.
At the end of their visit, they will be leaving only because they need to - not because they want to.