Purple Mango Cafe and Brewery, Oasis Tourist Park’s $150k expansion

A popular Territory brewery will open cabins and a bathroom block so visitors can stay overnight in style. SEE WHERE

THE Territory’s favourite hideaways and roadside oases are expanding to meet the demands of the dry season tourism rush.

Thirty-nine regional and remote wayside inns, caravan parks and roadhouses took part in a $4.9m grant program to expand their businesses.

The Purple Mango Cafe and Brewery, along the Marrakai Track off the Arnhem Highway, used the $150,000 funding to open up bookable cabins and a bathroom block.

Owner Adam Asanovski said he was getting more bookings for the cabins every week, just month after construction was completed.

“There is no doubt that without this support our business could not have grown into this dry season with such early success,” Mr Asanovski said.

“(We) had our biggest trading weekend on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend.

At the edge of Litchfield Park, The Oasis Tourist Park is going through its own major transformation, with upgrades to its swimming pool and 10 new cabins built under a similar $150,000 grant.

Adam Asanovski is the new owner of the Purple Mango Cafe and Brewery. Picture: Che Chorley

Owner Ben Reichstein said the benefits were not limited to his Virginia business.

“We ended up investing six times the grant amount ourselves on the works using suppliers and trades from 45 different local businesses,” Mr Reichstein said.

“The new pool and poolside villas are fantastic and have been strongly booked since coming online last month.”

Tourism and Hospitality Minister Nicole Manison said the “game changer” funding would help the Territory unlock its $2.6bn pre-Covid tourism economy.

“Territory tourism is heading into its most exciting high-season since the start of the pandemic,” Ms Manison said.

The Purple Mango Cafe and Brewery. Picture: SUPPLIED

“This program supports small businesses in remote corners of the Territory and keeps local tradies on the tools.”

She said ten projects had been completed under the grant funding, including upgrades to the Tobermorey Station Caravan Park, Douglas Daly Holiday Park, and Gemtree Roadhouse and Caravan Park.

Ms Manison said $2m in funding had opened in the third round of the program, with the government committing to match dollar for dollar the cost of the total project value up to $150,000.

The third grant round closes July 18, 2022.