Greg Hartshorne
The Canterbury earthquake, Europe's big freeze and the
ongoing global recession have combined to dent Christmas
bookings at Queenstown Lakes District Council camping grounds,
council holiday parks manager Greg Hartshorne says.
"I don't know that a lot of people have much money. A lot of
people have made the decision to spend this year at home," Mr
Hartshorne said.
The Glendhu Bay Lakeside Holiday Park, which has a waiting
list, was the exception, he said.
"It's very much a New Zealand families' destination that
seems to have quite a following," he said.
Other camping grounds run by the council - Queenstown
Lakeview Holiday Park, Arrowtown "Bowl of Gold" Holiday Park
and Wanaka Lakeview Holiday Park - were not showing growth.
Mr Hartshorne said he could not compare year-on-year booking
figures for Wanaka Lakeview Holiday Park because the council
acquired the ground in August.
Although there could be a "late rush", he said a lack of
international tourists reflected the global recession and the
recent cold snap in Europe, which had grounded many flights,
would have stopped many tourists coming into the Lakes
district for Christmas.
In his report to the council at last week's finance and
corporate committee meeting, Mr Hartshorne outlined a
wastewater upgrade for Glendhu Bay scheduled to start in the
2011 low season following recently completed water supply
improvements at the site.
He cited "growing unemployment" and "further uncertainty in
the workforce" as reasons why the "domestic market has not
ventured as far from home as in previous years".
However, increased reservations for the Arrowtown and
Queenstown sites, due to newly installed internet booking
systems, were "doing extremely well".
The Queenstown camping ground suffered most during winter
with declining bookings from traditional domestic markets in
Otago, Southland and Canterbury.
The hardest hit sector was the campervan market.
Anna Spijkerbosch, owner of Queenstown's Creeksyde Holiday
Park, said bookings were on par with last year.
The park was booked out for New Year's Eve.
She expected solid bookings throughout January, similar to
the corresponding time last year.
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