Empty campground photos expose worsening problem in Australia: 'Not a soul here'
Having a campground all to yourself may be a dream for many but recent photos of a popular location with "not a soul" there reveal a crippling problem impacting Aussies and their chance to explore the bush.
A camper headed to the Jamieson Creek Campground along the Great Ocean Road on Friday but was shocked to find it empty, despite claiming it was fully booked on the Parks Victoria online booking system.
It's the latest example of the ongoing ghost camping trend rocking the camping world, with the introduction of booking systems at campgrounds resulting in some choosing to book sites, only to not show up. This ghost camping leaves campgrounds empty while simultaneously blocking prospective campers from attending.
The behaviour has been exacerbated in Victoria this year after the state announced free camping across all state campgrounds without enforcing a formal policy tackling ghost camping. The free camping initiative is due to end in June.
Despite ghost camping continuing to be an issue at state-run campgrounds in Victoria, Parks Victoria continues to rely on campers doing the right thing rather than enforcing a formal policy.
When Yahoo News questioned this stance, Minister for Environment Steve Dimopoulos responded by saying "Victorians want to do the right thing".
"The Liberal Party thinks Victorians wake up in the morning to abuse the system — I don't buy that, Victorians want to do the right thing," he said, explaining Parks Victoria now sends out "two reminders to people to cancel if they can't make their booking".
Yahoo News understands campers receive an email seven days out from a campsite booking and another email and text message are sent 48 hours prior, encouraging cancellation if required.
"We introduced free camping to get more Victorian families out having holidays in the regions and putting money back in their pockets," Dimopoulos said. "We want more Victorians to explore the great outdoors on Easter weekend, in addition to the 131 bookable campgrounds, Victorians can also stay at one of the 1,000 free camping areas that are first-come-first-served across the state."
Mike Atkinson, also known as Outback Mike, is an Aussie adventurer and avid camper who has been vocal in his concern about having booking systems at campgrounds. National Parks introduced them during the Covid pandemic to enforce social distancing, however, authorities have grappled with ghost bookings ever since.
"There's three different states all trying to attack it in three different ways, and neither state is working. And that's because the problem is the booking system," he told Yahoo News.
Queensland have opted for the strictest approach and announced they will be issuing fines to campers caught guilty of ghost camping, while in NSW it was announced just last week authorities may introduce a new state-wide camping fee system based on amenities available at the campground. The upfront cost to book a campground is intended to deter those from ghost camping, however Mike said making campground prices "astronomical" is furthering the "divide between the rich and poor".
"By raising fees, they have just blocked out probably the poorest people in Australia from accessing national parks. It's the one thing they should have access to," he said.
He claims holding onto booking systems is instead about making "heaps of money" and is unsure why Victoria would continue to "bury its head in the sand" over the issue, especially since the state currently provides free camping.
Mike has one simple solution to tackle ghost camping — "ditch the booking system".
"If they got rid of the booking system, it would just be on a first come, first serve basis, the way it was before Covid... It wasn't an enormous problem then. No one was crying out before the booking system was introduced," he said.
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