The two separate incidents occurred on Thursday night at the Leith Valley Touring Park and Dunedin Holiday Park camping grounds, Senior Sergeant Mel Aitken said.
In the first incident, two tourists from the United States remained asleep as someone made two horseshoe-shaped incisions to gain access to their tent at the Leith Valley camp, Snr Sgt Aitken said.
The thief appeared to have reached inside the tent to remove a pair of shorts containing car keys in the pocket, which were then used to gain access to a nearby car, she said.
Electronic equipment including a palm pilot, digital camera and cellphone was stolen, before the car keys were returned to the shorts, which were left folded beside the tent, she said.
The theft was only discovered when the couple - a man and woman aged in their early 30s - awoke several hours later to find the incision in their tent and their property gone, she said.
A second similar incident was reported at the Tahuna camp, after a tourist - whose details were not available yesterday - awoke yesterday morning to find three small burn holes in their tent and property missing, Snr Sgt Aitken said.
The person responsible again appeared to have reached inside the tent and taken a wallet and two cellphones, although the wallet - which contained no cash - was later recovered nearby, she said.
A car parked beside the tent was also broken into and a digital camera taken.
The incidents were believed to be linked and campers needed to be wary, she said.
"To do that while people are sleeping, what do you say?" she said.
"It certainly doesn't send a good message to people coming into Dunedin."
