Find A Park iPhone App Finalist in the 2011 Mobile Awards

You can vote for Find A Park by clicking here. It's open now! The Mobie awards are a rating process not a popularity contest, so the results are based on the average score not the highest number of votes. 

The voting is made up of three individual groups Judges, Mobile Professionals and the Mobile Public with each contributing to your total score.

A key goal of the Mobile Awards is to promote conversation with the Mobile Public or the demand side of the design industry. Without demand there is no design industry.

Project Overview

Find A Park is a mobile application that puts all Australian holiday parks in the palm of your hand. No more out of date, bulky caravan park and camping ground guides and directories. Search for your holiday park by name, town, state, proximity features, amenities, park user group memberships and much more...

With Find A Park all the information you'll ever need about holiday parks is just a click away - park details, photos, interactive contacts, website, user reviews, hot deals maps, routes and directions from your current location to your preferred park destination.

Caravan Park Changes

Changes to the way Caravan Parks are being run aren't making everyone happy, according to an article by LizSemi Permanents at caravan parks Keen in ABC Mid North Coast NSW.

Some families take themselves off to the same holiday camping ground for years. They catch up with friends, they meet every year and then they often take their own kids back to the same grounds when they become parents themselves.

If you talk to anyone whose done this it's easy to see how much it means to them, not only are they a little nostalgic, it's a way of sharing their childhood with their own children.

Seal Rocks Caravan Park has been a popular place for campers over the years, and apart from its beautiful location, it is known for its laid back atmosphere which has families coming back year after year.

Greg Thompson is involved with the Save Seal Rocks group who are protesting against proposed changes to their holiday park. He told Beth McMullen the Park is perfect as it is but extensive changes are being proposed, with limited consultation. He owns a van in the park and is concerned that some residents will have to move to make way for these changes. "There was no letter sent out to us, we just saw it in the paper," he said.

Find A Park Holiday Park Finder Now Available for Download From ITunes App Store

The Find A Park app was released on 8 June through the ITunes App store. It brings hundreds of Australian caravan parks to users in the palm of their hands.

With over 4.5 million smartphone users in Australia more and more travellers will search and find their holiday park destinations with Find A Park. As well as finding parks by name, town or state, Find A Park provides users with useful information including photos, rates and amenities. You can select only those parks who have cabins, ensuite sites or are pet friendly. Here are some more features:

• The Search function allows Find a Park users to search for parks via a number of advanced search criteria including park name, location, amenities, and park groups like Family Parks, Top Tourist Big 4 and Aspen Holiday Parks 
• The reservation function connects Find a Park users directly to the booking form - or provides an email or telephone connection - at the touch of a button. No dialing or fumbling to enter an email address. 
• The direction function sends Find a Park users from their current location to their selected park destination with step by step direction and a map.

Download the Find A Park  Mobile App now

FIRST REGIONAL CARAVAN & CAMPING RADIO SHOW

The Great Australian Doorstep brand, headed by former AFL star Peter Spida Everitt and his wife Sheree, have launched Australia’s first regional Caravan & Camping Radio Show, which will air regionally around Australia on 31 Southern Cross Media stations from 29 May 2011.  

The Great Australian Doorstep Radio Show is a spin off from Spida and Sheree’s popular Channel 7Two TV Show, also entitled The Great Australian Doorstep, in its fourth season,  airs every Saturday at 5pm from 18 June for 20 weeks. The Great Australian Doorstep Radio Show will begin 29 May every Sunday morning from 6.00-7.00am.  The show will cover an extensive market as it is available on 31 stations across the country.

The Great Australian Doorstep Radio Show will be all things caravan, camping & 4wding around Australia.  With Sheree’s strong Kiwi heritage and their vibrant personality clashes it will make for entertaining listening.

“The best times of our life have been in the last four years while filming our TV Show. Caravan & camping around Australia really is ‘living the dream”.

“You will be really surprised at some of the gear on the market these days. We will talk about some really interesting holiday parks to stay, places to visit, great deals to be had, road closures and safety while on the road” Spida said.

The Great Australian Doorstep will air on 31 stations regionally around Australia on the Southern Cross Network from 29 May.

Tweed Shire Residents object to Plan for New Coastal Caravan Park

Residents at Cabarita Beach and Bogangar in Tweed Shire have commissioned a community plan to protest a proposed new coastal caravan park. The residents engaged Griffith University researcher Dr Kerrie Foxwell-Norton to conduct consultation in the local community and prepare an alternative plan to the Shire. The protests are aimed at derailing Shire plans for a much needed tourist facility.

With the acute shortage of coastal caravan parks impacting on the caravanning and camping lifestyle all over Australia, local residents' protests need to be considered in the perspective of the wider community. 

The Shire should initiate its own report and seek input from local tourism businesses that will benefit from the influx of travellers staying at the proposed caravan park and the caravanning and camping community which is increasingly being blocked from access to traditional beach caravan park locations.

How the Changing Internet User Impacts Online Marketing

The increased use of hand-held devices is giving end-users a much richer experience. The rise of location-based services, too, is related to changes in the end-user, who often accesses the Internet while mobile in order to find local services. In this video interview, Mike Grehan, Global VP of Content for Incisive Media, discusses the changes in the digital online marketplace.

High Interest in Caravan Parks iPhone App at CRVA Gold Coast Expo

Brighthouse's Senior Consultant, Michael Sidebottom was kept busy on the Find A Park stand at the CRVA Caravan Industry Conference and Expo at Jupiter's Casino on the Gold Coast on 5-7 April.

Interest in the unique holiday finer Smartphone App was sparked by two of the conference's keynote speakers who spoke about future trends in caravan park marketing and the need for caravan parks to embrace online mobile technologies.

A number of the caravan parks groups had been considering the introduction of digital mobile technologies to meet demand from internet and mobile-saavy caravan park users. The Brighthouse iPhone App means that the caravan industry can lead the tourist accommodation industry in the introduction of the technology.

Already, many caravan parks have requested listing on the App and over the next 3-4 weeks Brighthouse will be loading parks' information into the App database in readiness for the public release of the App through the Apple iTunes Store.

Caravan Industry National Conference 5 - 7 April 2011

With "A Grade" presenters like music promotor Glen Wheatley, futurist Morris Miselowski, economist Justin Smirk,sales motivator Kirsty Spraggon, rental motorhome operator, Luke Trouchet and ex AFL footballer Ben Cousins, the conference will have inspiration aplenty.

According to Federal Caravan, RV & Accommodation Industry Chairman Mark Lindsay "The 2011 CRVA National Conference presents an excellent opportunity to IMAGINE how you and your business fit into the world of tomorrow. With industry leaders coming together to explore best practice, improvement concepts, and to exchange information I would encourage all industry businesses to make their way to the Gold Coast for an opportunity to bond together as an industry in a social and educational environment at what is one of Australia’s truly sensational venues."

Don't miss this important caravan industry event.

Check out the program and reservation details here.