Delaware North is continuing its growth and expansion in the Australian tourism and leisure markets, announcing last week it has been successful in its bid to operate the Lane Cove River Tourist Park (LCRTP) for the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS). The park has been renamed Lane Cove Holiday Park.
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Lane Cove Holiday Park is a medium-sized holiday park composed of 156 powered and 48 unpowered camp sites, retail and laundry facilities, 28 cabins and one glamping tent.
Located only 10 kilometers from Sydney, Lane Cove Holiday Park has been an extremely popular tourism destination since 1968. NPWS took over the operation in 1998 and implemented an extensive flora regeneration and habitat creation program that transformed the park.
As part of the agreement, Delaware North has secured a 30-year lease to operate Lane Cove Holiday Park, which includes provision for scheduled facility maintenance and upgrades that will increase the park’s visitor capacity, as well as see the introduction of a new café and upgraded recreation and retail facilities. This future transformation also allows for construction of new glamping tents and cabins and improvements to guest amenities.
Delaware North Managing Director Gary Brown said the company was honored to have been selected by NPWS from a field of competitors to operate Lane Cove Holiday Park,with the appointment continuing Delaware North’s expansion in the Australian and New Zealand tourism and leisure segments.
“Lane Cove Holiday Park has established a great reputation among the tourism, caravanning and camping community for its many outstanding services, excellent facilities, and of course its sensational proximity to Sydney and the picturesque northern beaches,” Brown said.
“To have been awarded the opportunity to operate and make further investments in this great facility is a real privilege for us, and we look forward to applying our years of experience running similar facilities in Australia and national parks in the United States to our stewardship of Lane Cove Holiday Park.”
According to Caravan Industry Association of Australia (CIAA) data, the nation’s caravan and camping visitor economy continues to break records. For the year ending September 2018, caravans and campers accounted for 15 percent of all nights spent in accommodation around Australia, an increase of 9 percent on the previous year. Growth in the domestic caravan and camping industry continues to outpace the national visitor economy, where total overnight trips last year grew by 7 percent to reach 102.7 million, and nights grew by 6 percent, to 368 million.
CIAA data also shows record numbers of international visitors are choosing caravanand cabin over more traditional accommodation. In the year ending June 2018, 381,888 visitors chose caravanning and camping, spending 4.87 million nights around Australia.
Brown said encouraging figures like these were partially behind Delaware North’s expansion into the tourism parks and resorts sector.
“It is quite evident that both domestic and international travelers are very open to new and different forms of accommodation, and especially options that immerse them into the culture and history of the location,” he said.