Holiday Parks end year on a high

4 January 2012

Holiday Parks end year on a high

Holiday parks are more popular with holidaymakers than ever, showing double digit growth in guest nights through much of 2011.

“In these challenging economic times, it’s fantastic to see such strong growth in the holiday park sector, especially through the winter months in what is traditionally our quiet season,” Holiday Accommodation Parks Association of NZ Chief Executive Fergus Brown says.

Rugby World Cup 2011 brought many visitors to holiday parks through September and October, he says.

“Although all parks did not benefit, visitors were spread around provincial New Zealand as well as large numbers in the main match centres. RWC 2011 will also provide us with long-term benefits. Visitors from France and Argentina really enjoyed their holiday park experience and both have the potential to provide New Zealand with long term growth in visitor arrivals.”

Another new international visitor market that is taking the opportunity to enjoy the holiday park experience is from Malaysia and Singapore, Mr Brown says.

Holiday parks have benefited substantially from the additional visitors from these markets brought to New Zealand by new air services provided by both AirAsia X and JetStar.

“Travellers from these markets are well suited to the holiday park product and they enjoy the opportunity to mix with other Kiwi and international visitors staying at the parks.”

Across the board, travellers are recognising that holiday parks provide a lot more than just a tent site, Mr Brown says. There has been a substantial growth in the number of motel style units, basic cabins and backpacker accommodation available in holiday parks throughout the country.

Both international and domestic visitors find that holiday parks provide quality accommodation options in a relaxed family environment.

In addition, a number of parks have joined motel and backpacker marketing groups such as Golden Chain and YHA to increase their guest nights.

Another area of growth has been achieved by holiday parks diversifying into non-leisure markets. A number of parks have developed conference facilities and some are targeting corporate travellers. These new market segments will complement our focus on the family market, school and sporting groups, he says.

“The move for holiday parks to provide online real-time booking access for consumers has also been a factor in our growth. Parks are taking the opportunity to distribute their product through a wide range of online channels and this is having the affect of putting our product in front of a vast international and domestic consumer market.”

At a time when getting new customers is hard work, holiday parks are looking at every opportunity to increase guest nights and pick up market share.

“With our fingers crossed for a lot hot summer and new initiatives in 2012, we are confident that this growth will continue into the New Year,” Mr Brown says.

Percentage Increase in guest nights from the same month of the previous year
May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct
15.2% 17.0% 19.3% 19.3% 20.5% 5.0%
Source: Statistics NZ Commercial Accommodation Monitor

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