The Project was understaken by CERM PI at University of South Australia to measure the impact and benchmark efficiencies and service delivery in local government owned caravan parks. The project began with high level engagement with each of the participating councils to develop a survey instrument that was suitable to examine the spending habits and other factors associated with the visitation of individuals and groups to council owned caravan parks. This stage of the project coincided with a robust analysis of the latest research, both in Australia and overseas, related to the impact of similar facilities in local areas to further inform the instrument to be used in this part of the research. Following this, CERM PI developed an online customised survey thorough our software partners that could be accessed by caravan park visitors via clicking on a link or scanning a QR code for smart phones. Hard copies of the survey were also made available on site at each of the participating caravan parks. The online link was sent to the email addresses of the caravan park visitors they used during check in/ registration. Data was collected over three months in order to have a representative sample of caravan users/visitors (i.e. weekends, weekdays, school holiday periods). Once the data had been collected, the analysis began and was led by internationally recognised researchers in the tourism field. Again, this process was based on proven methodologies in the field and although customised to this specific project, the method of analysis followed recognised best practice protocols for interpreting and making sense of the nature of this type of data. Following this stage of the project, a focussed interview was undertaken with each participating caravan park manager to understand the key operational management metrics that could be benchmarked to potentially be used as evidenced-based data that could illuminate relevant issues related to improving efficiencies and service delivery. Once this instrument was developed, a data input sheet was created and each participating caravan park was asked to complete it in order to generate data that is specifically relevant to the South Australian caravan park context.

The project has produced detailed data around the operations of council owned caravan parks and data related to user experience of these parks.

The outcome of this project is a detailed data driven report that shows how users/customers of council owned facilities perceived their experience. The report also contains data related to the operations of caravan sites where management can view how they are performing from an operational perspective against other similar facilities of size and scope.