Facilities to keep the whole family entertained Image courtesy of Peninsula Pool Contractors
By Sarah Davison,
family and they’re enjoying family barbeques.
For holiday parks, creating memorable guest experiences that include the whole family is the key to happy campers, and returning customers.
“They’re getting out of the cabins and getting out in the fresh air. It’s lovely to see and it’s a real trend I’ve seen this year.”
Industry Reporter
Mr Illich said that while Brisbane Holiday Village was lucky to have 33 acres for facilities, providing free activities on-site was a simple way of creating a memorable guest experience.
After some difficult years due to COVID-19 and border restrictions, holiday parks have seen a record number of Aussies choose to book caravan and camping holidays for their family vacations. Brisbane Holiday Village General Manager Geoff Illich who has worked at the park for 27 years, told AccomNews that the facilities offered on-site for guests were part of the holiday park’s enduring success. He said: “I think people have reflected on their own childhoods and the memories of camping with their family, and they want their children to experience that too. “It’s a full resurgence of people getting back to basics.” Located only 15 minutes outside of Brisbane’s CBD, Mr Illich said providing an environment for guests to enjoy onsite activities
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AccomNews - Winter 2022
Image courtesy of Parkitect Australia
was key to their ongoing success. Trends show that holiday park guests typically spend two to three hours enjoying the activities on-site, before venturing out for the day. He said in his experience: “People will obviously want to go into town, or go to Dreamworld, but we find that guests generally spend those three hours on-site.” Brisbane Holiday Village boasts several areas for the young and young at heart to have some fun in the sun. In addition to the pool area, playground, tennis courts, and minigolf course, the holiday village also offers larger-than-life
games for families to enjoy, with a giant ‘Connect 4’ and a large timber puzzle available to use. Brisbane Holiday Village also recently began renting out electric scooters for kids to use while holidaying, and they had proven incredibly popular. Mr Illich said he had noticed a real change in the behaviour of guests, with families opting to spend time together, more than in previous years. “There’s a lot less ‘device time’ and a lot more family time,” he said. “They’re all in the pool together, they’re playing minigolf as a
REFURBISHMENT
“Every school holiday, we’ll organise free activities for the families. We’ll have movie and popcorn nights, petting zoos, pony rides, wildlife shows, balloon art, face painting as well as poolside music and discos,” he said. “We still need to get more customers back, so offering free activities makes sure families come back but also advocate for us when they leave. “It means they’ll tell their school friends and work colleagues about us.” AccomNews reached out to a couple of industry experts who are in the business of providing family orientated activities. P46
