New parking to assist tourists, CBD

Published on 20 February 2019

Council has commenced construction on a new parking area on Kintore Reserve to boost parking in the CBD district and better cater for tourists.

The $300,000 project will provide sealing and kerbing for a large parking area to accommodate seven large recreational vehicles (RVs) and 32 regular vehicles.

The site will also feature a 'dump point' to allow RVs to discharge wastewater from holding tanks, and provide extra parking for nearby services, attractions, and businesses.

Council's Chief Operations Officer, Anthony Misagh, said the project would make the city more RV friendly and also help boost tourism in the CBD.

Mr Misagh said recent research showed that the habits of caravan and motorhome travellers were changing, with ‘baby boomers’ now making up the majority of the market.

“We recently had a great discussion with New Young Consulting who are experts on this demographic, and their findings have been really interesting,” he said.

“The older ‘silent generation’ of caravan travellers who would pass through towns, keep to themselves, and generally be self-sufficient have been largely replaced by the baby boomers who are more outgoing, love to walk and explore, and spend more money.

“This carpark is less than five minutes' walk from the CBD, so ideally we’ll see travellers taking advantage of it and wandering into the CBD to visit businesses in that area.

“We’ve said many times that we’re committed to revitalising the CBD, and hopefully this helps us move closer to that goal."

Construction on the site is expected to be completed in mid-April.