G’Day Group looks to spread its wings despite tourism acquisitions slowdown

G’Day Group looks to spread its wings despite tourism acquisitions slowdown

G’Day Group is looking to broaden its horizons following a record year of travel spend across Australia’s caravan and camping sector.

The holiday park operator has invested over $60m in acquisitions over the past 12 months. Among those deals include Beachfront Camping and Cottages Narooma, Coffin Bay Caravan Park and the Porepunkah Bridge Holiday Park in Victoria’s High Country.

Amanda Baldwin, the chief investment officer at G’Day Group, told The Australian that the company is on the lookout for “transformative” deals, despite the downturn of activity in the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market.

Amanda Baldwin at Caravan Industry Association of Australia (LinkedIn/Amanda Baldwin)

Baldwin expects Aussies to opt for more domestic trips as international airfares remain high and the cost of living crisis means households have to limit travel spend.

“Australians still have the appetite to travel but are looking at more affordable options, which is the sweet spot for our industry,” Baldwin told The Australian.

G’Day Group has an eyes-up approach, always looking for opportunity and transformative deals that will add significant scale or give us a distinct strategic advantage.

“While we’ve been able to find and execute these deals every two to three years, we remain active in the market for quality holiday park assets.

“We’re also increasing our focus on developing existing assets and investing around $80m to $100m per year.”

The turndown of M&A activity recently is attributable to capital constraints facing some buyers and the challenging financial environment, alongside rising insurance costs forcing some operators out of travel.

“The combined result has seen a softening in valuations,” she said.

“However, tourism fundamentals remain strong and this has ensured our industry has weathered these impacts relatively well when compared with other commercial property sectors like office and retail.”

Travel Weekly was told by a communications representative from G’Day Group that it does not currently have an official position on any specific targets for its acquisitions.

Latest News

  • Aviation

Air Vanuatu cancels all flights to Australia, files for insolvency

Hundreds of passengers have been stranded across the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand after Air Vanuatu cancelled a slew off flights across the region. Riddled with technical faults over the last year, Air Vanuatu filed for insolvency on Monday and has cancelled flights to and from Sydney, Brisbane and Auckland until at least Sunday. The Vanuatu […]

  • Destinations

Tropical North Queensland action-packed events calendar for adventure enthusiasts

Sporting enthusiasts and adventure seekers are gearing up for an action-packed year in Tropical North Queensland, with a lineup of sports events and adrenaline-pumping experiences set to take centre stage in 2024. Leading the charge is the highly-anticipated return of the Crankworx World Tour ‘Paradise Edition’ to Cairns from 22-26 May 2024. The mountain biking […]

  • Travel Agents

Disney Days returns with Inside Out 2 showing in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Auckland

Time is running out for agents to register their Expression of Interest to an exclusive screening of the much-anticipated Disney and Pixar film, Inside Out 2, hosted by Disney Destinations Australia/New Zealand team and partner United Airlines. Places are limited and applications must be in by 17 May. In addition to the screening of the […]

  • Cruise

Aranui Cruises slashes prices with No Single Supplement and Half Price offers

French Polynesian cargo cruise line Aranui Cruises is slashing thousands off its 2025 Austral and Marquesas Islands cruises with an autumn sale offering 50 per cent off the second guest in a twin share room and no single supplement for solo travellers. On sale until June 21, 2024, Aranui’s 12-day roundtrip voyage from Papeete to […]