Whangarei Top 10 owners Claire and Nick Blake, Kauri Coast Top 10 owners Chris and Jane McComb, Russell Top 10 managers Naomi Facey and Neil Bolton and chief executive Daniel Tilton at the awards.
Whangarei Top 10 owners Claire and Nick Blake, Kauri Coast Top 10 owners Chris and Jane McComb, Russell Top 10 managers Naomi Facey and Neil Bolton and chief executive Daniel Tilton at the awards.
Northland holiday parks have successfully shown they can roll out the welcome mat to their guests in this year's Top 10 Holiday Parks awards.
Russell Top 10 took out the Supreme Award as well as Top Guest Experience.
Kauri Coast Top 10 Holiday Park was runner up to Russell in the Top Guest Award while Whangarei's Top 10 Holiday Park was runner up in the Largest Proportionate Club Membership Seller and ReviewPro Customer Service awards.
The four-hectare Russell camping ground won the Supreme Award at the 2017 Top 10 Holiday Parks awards. Photo/Supplied
Daniel Tilton, chief executive of Russell TOP 10, has been involved with the holiday park since late 2015 with on site managers Neil Bolton and Naomi Facey joining last June. Mr Tilton was delighted with the accolades.
"Russell is such a beautiful part of the country and it's always popular with both international and domestic visitors who want to get out onto the water and see the Bay of Islands."
The holiday park is a popular destination for tourists during summer, with most international visitors coming from Germany and the UK. During the height of the season, the ground swells to about 500 people - in a town with a population of just 800.
Mr Tilton said the key to running a popular holiday park, apart from destination, is creating a clean, safe environment with good service.
"We place a lot of emphasis on guest feedback - that information is invaluable in helping you to shape the way you run the park and indicates any areas for improvement.
"As a result of feedback we've had in the past, Russell TOP 10 is now Smokefree and we've introduced a variety of family activities during the holidays."
Russell Top 10 has 140 camp sites (powered and unpowered) together with 24 accommodation units.
Mr Tilton said the park had a growing reputation for its family friendly and relaxing vibe.
With 45 parks nationwide, Top 10 Holiday Parks Group will add another two parks to the fold in September; one of these was understood to be Beachside Holiday Park in Paihia.
Chief executive David Ovendale said the group will then have about 10 per cent of the total market of about 480 holiday parks/campgrounds in New Zealand.
"In our experience, these types of holidays are growing in popularity both among Kiwis and international visitors.
"In the past financial year, our turnover grew by 12 per cent, consolidating an 8 per cent lift the previous year reflecting strongly increased visitor numbers."
He said the parks are under pressure in the high season - December 23-January 5 - but otherwise there is some availability across most parks.
"Holiday parks are very weather dependent so a wet January really hurts our owners. We also feel seasonality more strongly than most other accommodation providers so are always able to take more people in the low/shoulder seasons."
In New Zealand, the holiday park sector provides 36 per cent of commercial accommodation capacity and 20 per cent of commercial guest nights.
In the year ended April 2017 holiday parks provided 7,665,801 guest nights. Guest nights to holiday parks are made up of 34 per cent international visitors and 66 per cent domestic visitors.
While staying at holiday parks, guests contribute over $1 billion in direct expenditure to local communities. About $612 million (60 per cent) of the expenditure is from domestic travellers with the balance of $405 million (40 per cent) spent by international travellers.
