The number of people in Australia going camping, hiking and boating has risen, according to new data from the National Land Survey (NLS).
The latest numbers show that there were 2.6 million Australians going camping in 2017, up from 1.8 million in 2016.
The NLS is the country’s official land survey, which collects information from about 100 million people across the country.
The number of Australians going out for camping has also risen, up 7.6 per cent from the previous year.
And it’s the biggest increase in a decade, according the NLS.
The number for camping was down by 0.2 per cent to 1.1 million.
There were 8.9 million Australians visiting the national parks and national forests in 2017.
Camping in the past 10 yearsThe latest figures show that Australia’s national parks have seen a dramatic rise in activity over the past decade, with the number of campers in the national park system up nearly 50 per cent.
From 1,084,816 campsites were registered in 2017 to 589,832 in 2020.
But it’s not all about the national landscape.
Camping on the South Australian coast is booming.
According to the National Parks and Conservation Council, the number and number of campsites has increased in South Australia by around 50 per percent since 2009.
Over the same period, the average number of overnight stays per person has gone up by 15 per cent, to more than 500.
Campsites have been popping up in every state in Australia, with a total of around 4.3 million campsites in the country in 2020, according a report published in the Journal of Tourism Economics and Business.
Campgrounds have been expanding over the last decadeIn 2018, the Government announced the expansion of the national Park Service, with nearly $1 billion in funding for the project.
With funding, the National Park Service is also developing a national trail system to provide easy access to camping areas.
In 2020, the NT Government also announced the creation of a National Recreation Centre, a recreational park that will provide recreational opportunities to a diverse range of people from across the NT.
The NT Parks and Wildlife have been working with the Government to deliver the recreational park and trail system.