Murray caravan parks getting back on a roll

CARAVAN park owners in Robinvale and Euston are bracing for a bumper festive season after a surge in bookings this month.

COVID-19 has crippled local tourism turnover since the week after the Robinvale Euston 80 Ski Race Classic in March.

However, it’s going to be a happy Christmas for the Robinvale and Euston riverside caravan parks amid a rush to book a summer getaway on the Murray River.

“Bookings are looking really good between now and Christmas,” said Chris Ashby, who runs Robinvale Riverside Caravan Park with his wife, Wendy.

“We’re close to being fully booked for the Christmas period and into January, which is such a relief after a tough year.

“We lost Easter, which had the school holidays attached to it. And that, along with Christmas and the ski race, is the busiest time of the year for us.

“The money we lost this year … well, we won’t get it back. It’s as simple as that. But there are good signs for the next few months.”

Of the 115 sites at the park, Mr Ashby said there were only about 15 available now over the Christmas/New Year period.

“But the thing is, we want to have a few spare sites during this time,” he said.

“Most of our sites are really big and we could comfortably have 5-6 people on a site with the 4m sq rule. But we’re minimising it to 4-5 a site over Christmas with the restrictions.

“We just don’t think it’s fair to cram people in, in this environment.”

Euston Riverfront Caravan Park owner Mark Tyrrell said the phones had been “running hot” with bookings for the festive season.

“We’re just about booked out for the Christmas/New Year period, and we’re already getting bookings for Easter next year,” he said.

“But the only thing about next year is that people are booking with the uncertainty of whether restrictions will change and they won’t be able to travel here.”

Mr Tyrrell said his caravan park – which has 23 sites and 22 cabins – was now returning towards pre-COVID turnover.

“We relied on JobKeeper to keep the business going initially, but we are doing too well now to qualify for it,” he said.

“We had 10-15 of the border-patrol coppers staying with us for a few months, which really helped while the tough travel restrictions were in place.

“As for the future, we’re reasonably optimistic about how it looks for us, and more generally about local tourism. But you can’t plan with any certainty with COVID still around.”