New Plymouth holiday park operator wins Emerging Star Award
Peter Crawford of New Plymouth’s Fitzroy Beach Holiday Park has been awarded the 2018 Holiday Parks ePay Emerging Star
Award for holiday park professionals under the age of 35.
Mr Crawford was chosen for his strong focus on business marketing and environmental advocacy, combined with a personal
emphasis on the concept of whanaungatanga, meaning relationships and family connections.
After completing a business degree in enterprise development and marketing, and owning a few small, part-time tourism
businesses, he took over the Fitzroy Beach Holiday Park as a family business in 2013. Under his management, the park has
increased its yearly visitor revenue by over 30% for each of the past four years. This growth can be directly attributed
to Peter’s skills in both online and traditional marketing methods, and the spirit and work ethic of his family leading
the team they work with.
Mr Crawford recently introduced a new international payments currency system which is already adding revenue, and is
currently implementing a pricing model designed from insights of hotel software.
Mr Crawford was elected to the Holiday Parks New Zealand board in 2017, and regularly meets with local body councillors
and members to help others in the sector. He has overseen a number of community initiatives and environmental management
programmes, which have led to the holiday park being granted significant funding to extend its pest eradication
programme into the community.
The Fitzroy Beach Holiday Park received the ServiceIQ Visitor Experience Award in 2017, after assisting four staff
through the New Zealand Certificate in Tourism (Visitor Experience).
Fergus Brown, Chief Executive of Holiday Parks New Zealand, calls Peter a very worthy recipient of this award.
"He has demonstrated a highly professional business approach to the operation and marketing of Fitzroy Beach Holiday
Park and other parts of their business.
“We are increasingly seeing young business people buying into the holiday park sector and like Peter, they bring a new
dynamic business approach”.
New Plymouth District Mayor Neil Holdom congratulates Mr Crawford on winning the national accolade.
“Holiday Parks are an important economic contributor and it’s great to see more tourists discovering just how amazing
the lifestyle capital of New Plymouth is. Peter deserves this award for the way he is proactively working with the
community, including his efforts to get rid of pests as we strive for Zero Waste 2040 and Predator Free 2050.”
About the Holiday Parks’ Emerging Star Award
This is the second year the Holiday Parks’ Emerging Star Award has been presented. It recognises a holiday park
professional who could be in an ownership, management, office or park operation role. Entrants must be under the age of
35 as at 1 January 2018.
The Award is being run in partnership with ePay Gift Station, New Zealand’s largest virtual retail channel selling
pre-paid products through thousands of retail outlets.
This year’s prize includes the David Hold Memorial Trophy, entrance to the Holiday Parks Conference and Trade Exhibition
in Hamilton (including three nights’ accommodation in Hamilton and air travel), and a $1,000 Pressie card provided by
ePay.
ePay are pleased to be the naming sponsor for the ePay Emerging Star award. ePay recognises the importance of being a
part of HPNZ, especially in a world where new technology in the Holiday Park sector can add more value to both industry
and consumers.