17 Jul 2013
Words Tim Admin

The many faces of the tourism industry - Allan Walls

It is pure coincidence that the first sales business opened by Allan Walls in the early 1970s specialised in selling caravans. Ultimately, it wasn’t caravans so much as caravan parks that would come to dominate his successful business life. Four decades later, Allan Walls is widely considered to have been one of Australia’s foremost caravan park sales specialists, and a great contributor to the industry he came to love. Though now retired from business broking, Walls is a national director of Big4 Holiday Parks of Australia and owns three caravan parks, one of which has won its State holiday park tourism award for five consecutive years. The caravan park industry has followed an evolutionary road, changing enormously in Walls’ lifetime. And it has benefited greatly from his professionalism and expertise. Allan Walls’ business roots go back to the 1960s, when his first job was as an accounts junior with Elders forerunner, Australian Estates. He then spent five years working as a public accountant before his instincts led him to pursue opportunities in private enterprise. After a brief foray as a wholesale grocer, he saw greater promise lay in the sales arena. Within a short time of opening a caravan and boat sales outlet at Benalla in Victoria’s north, he was well on the way to success. That business became one of Australia’s largest York Caravan dealers. Remarkably, it was also the nation’s biggest Flightcraft boat dealer, selling one-third of that company’s entire production from inland Benalla, a town close to several significant lakes. “During this very successful period, we became one of Channel 6’s (then regional Victorian TV) largest advertisers, which contributed to the success of our business,” he recalls. “Eventually, I sold out to my partner, to pursue other opportunities.” It was then Walls had the chance to buy a half share in Westmore Real Estate, a Benalla business brokerage that “mostly sold milk bars, general stores and the odd small motel.” Again his keen business instincts were spot on. “I saw the need to expand to broader horizons. Being based in a regional town was, to some extent, a handicap to business. “So, in 1989, I purchased one of Victoria’s largest business broking houses, Tower Business Agency. Tower was well known and the name opened many doors to larger and larger sales,” he said. “Our motel division grew bigger and bigger, to the stage that we stopped selling small businesses.” It was at this point on his enterprising journey that the caravan rolled back into view. “Out of the blue, I received a phone call asking why we didn’t sell caravan parks and the rest, as they say, is history.” Pivotal to Walls’ increasing focus on the caravan park industry was his purchase of another brokerage firm, Clark Walker, which specialised in caravan park sales. “Sales of caravan parks became the largest part of our business and, having also opened an office in Melbourne, the business morphed into Tower Business and Real Estate.” Ultimately, agreements with interstate business brokers led to the formation of Tower Group Australia, which became a familiar presence at most industry events and conferences across the country for many years. An example of the acumen with which Walls developed his business, and his genuine desire to engage directly with his market, was his move to establish relationships with peak industry bodies. Tower signed on as a long-term sponsor of the Victorian Caravan Parks Association, and worked with them on a major education initiative. “We jointly ran seminars around four times a year for potential caravan park buyers, holding them at Melbourne’s RACV club,” he explained. “I was then invited by the South Australian Caravan Parks Association to conduct seminars in Adelaide too. “We developed a good round table of experts, including solicitors, accountants and park operators, with the goal to provide prospective caravan park purchasers with some background in the industry prior to purchase. “Most seminars were sold out, with all proceeds going back to the respective associations, so it was of great benefit to the industry while allowing me and my staff to build terrific rapport with park buyers and sellers, and learn a lot too.” Walls says this direct interaction with the industry was not only a key business tenet, it led to his passion for and ultimate direct involvement in caravan parks. “Travel was an essential part of the business, as our policy was to meet as many people as we could on their home ground,” he said. “On the invitation of then Big4 chairman, Bob Barham, we became a major sponsor of Big4 Holiday Parks of Australia. Tower also sponsored Top Tourist Parks and Family Parks for many years. “These associations, the travel, and my eventual love of the industry led me to purchase three caravan parks – two in Tasmania, Big4 St Helens and Big4 Ulverstone, now in partnership with my son Jarrod, and Mulwala Shoreline Caravan Park in south-eastern New South Wales.” It is Big4 St Helens Holiday Park that has won Tourism Tasmania awards every year since 2008, making it a finalist at the national tourism awards for five consecutive years. Boasting accommodation options ranging from luxury villas to powered and unpowered van and camping sites, plus myriad facilities including games room, adventure playground and giant jumping pillow, it represents the modern face of the industry. “The evolution of the caravan park industry has been dramatic over the past 25 years, from humble camping areas with very basic or no facilities, to 5-star resorts,” Walls says. Many are now one-stop shops for entertainment-packed family holidays, often with large indoor heated pools, state-of-the-art playgrounds and kids clubs, magnificent camp kitchens and restaurants. As both an advocate for the caravan park industry and a direct stakeholder, Walls well understands the opportunities and obstacles park owners face. “Sadly, the difficulty in balancing the value of the land, which often occupies the best location in town, with the income achievable leaves some operators with no option but to sell or subdivide their park, as the land has a higher value as a development site,” he said. One of his own parks, the Mulwala Shoreline not far from Benalla where it all started, is facing that very destiny. Walls rails against the practice of many local authorities to now allow caravan and RV users to camp in roadside stops free of charge, under what the “misguided impression” that this is somehow good for tourism. While councils (ratepayers) pick up the considerable tab for maintaining these so-called ‘free’ sites, they are competing against park owners who carry significant overheads while contributing to local economies and providing vital local jobs, he says. It is certainly one of the dominant challenges being tackled by the industry today. But, as you may have gathered, Walls isn’t one to shy away from a challenge. While achieving so much on his caravan-related business journey, he has also found time for competitive pursuits requiring quite a different set of wheels. His passion for motor sport has seen him race Commodore Cup cars around Australia. His pride and joy is a 1988 Holden Walkinshaw. He has also completed the grueling Bathurst 24-hour race, and taken out a class win in the Classic Adelaide four-day tarmac rally. But, back to business. All in all, Allan Walls says his life associated with caravans has been tremendously rewarding. And he remains filled with optimism for the future of the caravan park industry. “I have been most fortunate to meet many great people, many of whom have become enduring personal friends. “Australians love holidays, Australians love Australia, and they love a chat,” he says, referring to the camaraderie enjoyed in the caravan park environment. “So we as an industry will continue to prosper.”