Wild weather and inaccurate forecasts impact holiday park bookings

Leading holiday park and resort management company, FreeSpirit, says that wild weather affecting Australia's east coast over recent months has impacted on bookings for the upcoming Easter break.

With Queensland and Northern New South Wales affected by storms and floods over the past three months, weather reports have been having negative effect on many attractions, events and tourism operators.

FreeSpirit Senior Operations Manager Danella Rockley says Easter is the second busiest time of the year at their holiday parks, but, this year, travellers are a little nervous to book in advance due to the weather.

Rockley explained "at Blue Dolphin Holiday Resort in Yamba, there is still has availability for the upcoming Easter break, which is almost unheard of.

"Our camping sites are fully booked, but normally our accommodation is booked out months in advance.

"In all of our locations we ensure that there are plenty of all-weather activities, which is why it's disappointing that the wet weather is deterring guests from taking holidays.

"We're hoping to see a turnaround in the next two weeks and that more people start to make some last-minute accommodation reservations."

Rockley says the forecast for further poor weather is having a greater impact on operators than the actual weather conditions.

She adds "Fraser Lodge Holiday Park in Hervey Bay was poised to be fully booked (on) 8th and 9th March, but the mention of a possible cyclone and rain threw our guests' plans into disarray.

"The park was going to be filled with rugby players and their families visiting Hervey Bay for a tournament that weekend. However, (the event) was cancelled based on the weather reports.

"Lucky for Queensland, the cyclone did not hit and while it's still currently sitting off Queensland out in the Pacific Ocean, it is very unlikely to make land.

"The sun ended up being out for most of the weekend, yet our park was almost empty due to the number of cancellations, making the news of the impending cyclone a real burden to our business."

FreeSpirit Management Group was formed in 2004 to assist corporate entities that invested in holiday parks but did not have the expertise to manage them, and has quickly emerged as a leader in the industry.

FreeSpirit provides selective operational management services, master planning consultancy, training, marketing and design services for the caravan, resort and holiday park industry.

For more information about FreeSpirit Resort and Holiday Park Management, visit http://www.freespiritresorts.com.au