Territory caravan parks struggling to survive without grey nomads amid NT border closures

EMPTY caravan parks are struggling to survive with NT’s border lockdown keeping thousands of travelling grey nomads away this dry season.

Hidden Valley Holiday Park manager Dani Walter says the business will struggle to survive the dry season, with bookings down 90 per cent due to the NT’s border lockdown. Picture: Che Chorley

EMPTY caravan parks are struggling to survive with NT’s border lockdown keeping thousands of travelling grey nomads away this dry season.

Hidden Valley Holiday Park manager Dani Walter said with bookings down 90 per cent, they would barely make it through the next few months, which is normally their busiest time of the year.

“We’re normally full this time of year but now we’re lucky to have six caravans who are semi permanent,” she said.

“I know some other parks who are doing it worse.

MORE NT CORONAVIRUS NEWS

Chief Minister slams Chamber of Commerce early border opening idea to help save businesses

Mental health concerns for forced hotel quarantine in the NT

Mindil Beach Sunset Markets a chance to return this June

“We’re doing what we can to attract more locals by cutting prices in half but we’ll still struggle greatly without the grey nomads.

“We’ve had over 200 cancellations this month but we’ve also recently started getting calls from interstate from people wanting to come here for the Supercars.

“But it doesn’t look like the borders will be open though in time for that.”

NEW OFFER: Get amazing Sennheiser earbuds (RRP: $499) with NT News subscription deal

Tourism NT boss Andrew Hopper said grey nomads made up a significant portion of NT’s 420,000 domestic holiday visitors last year.

“We are working on a range of strategies to target intra-Territory and domestic visitors when restrictions are lifted,” he said.

“We expect there will be a strong reliance on intra-Territory and domestic opportunities.”