Camping grounds see boom time

While the tourism industry is tightening its belt, camping grounds are as "good as gold", boosted by travellers looking for a cheaper option.

Many camping grounds in Southland and Otago are fully booked from Christmas to the end of January.

New Zealand Holiday Park Association chief executive Fergus Brown said holiday parks were benefiting from Kiwis choosing to forgo a trip to Aussie in favour of camping and international visitors tightening their expenses.

"I would say it's as good as last year, better in some areas," he said.

Recent Tourism New Zealand numbers show international visitor arrivals are down 10 per cent on last year.

However, Mr Brown said the drops were in tourists from Asia and the United States, who did not usually stay in holiday parks. Lower petrol prices and a good exchange rate were also helping, he said. Queenstown Creeksyde Holiday Park owner and Destination Queenstown chairwoman Erna Spijkerbosch said international visitor arrivals remained strong.

"We are looking very good until the end of January," she said. "There's still spaces but we are not noticing the downturn."

Invercargill's Beach Road Holiday Park manager Gerry Oudhoff said the downturn was a positive for camping grounds and holiday parks.

"New Zealanders are more inclined to look to their own doorstep rather than travel overseas at the moment," he said. "We are doing very well."

Wanaka Lakeside Holiday Park assistant manager Alan Martin said business was up slightly on last year and they were fully booked through to next month.

"People seem to be downgrading their style of holiday," he said.

Holiday Parks operators in Cromwell and Alexandra were also booked through till the end of January.

Gore's Delamore Park caretaker Vick Herring said business was "bloody good", with a lot of family groups and Australian tourist.

However, Mr Brown warned that things could get shaky beyond February.

"We do have to be very mindful about what happens in the February market.

"We are not getting as many forward bookings."

Sharon Anderson, of the Department of Conservation Te Anau area office, said hut bookings for Southland's Great Walks were expected to decline through summer.

"It's starting to slow down a wee bit. At the later end of the season we might notice a difference."

Huts on the Milford Track were booked out until March, Ms Anderson said, but vacancies remained on the Kepler and Routeburn trails through much of summer.

- © Fairfax NZ News