Tourist hot spots around the Limestone Coast have been experiencing an influx of visitors due to the Victorian and South Australian school holidays.
Caravan parks in Beachport, Robe and Mount Gambier are reporting a tourism boom after a slow winter season, with operators attributing that to cost of living pressures and cold weather.
Mount Gambier Chamber of Commerce president Candice Fennell said there has been an increase of activity around the Blue Lake city.
“You can see the flurry of activity around the place and particularly while even South Australia are just starting theirs, we have even noticed the back end of the last two weeks with Victorian school holidays,” she said.
“All the caravan parks look nice and full and I’m sure with hospitality and retail they’re noticing a bit more foot traffic around.
“I think we have got so much to offer here and you can see that people are using this as a destination to come to and really take part in any of the things that we have got available to us from a tourism perspective.
“I think it’s one of those times where moving into the Christmas period, just a reminder for people to shop local and support our local businesses, our local tourism businesses as well.”
Blue Lake Holiday Park reception supervisor Sam Ham said the facility had experienced a sudden burst of activity which could be conducive to the opening of their new indoor pool.
“The lead up to Victoria school holidays was slow then all of a sudden we got extremely busy,” she said.
“We think this was due to the pool opening slightly earlier than expected.
“We are not quite as busy this year as people are finding it hard to find the extra money required for a holiday.
“Winter was reasonably quiet again due to economic hardship.”
Beachport’s Southern Ocean Tourist Park manager Lisa Hibberd said their visitors were currently a mixture of families and retirees.
“Last week has definitely been very constant, we have had a constant dribble of people through the park,” she said.
“The October long weekend obviously was a fair bit busier than during the weeks.
“As soon as spring hit and the sun started shining, we started to get slowly busier, but it’s definitely increased with the school holidays.
“We are certainly well and truly booked out for that Christmas/New Year period, it’s looking very busy and busy through to February.
“Early December is looking fairly quiet at this point, but we’ll see how that goes.”
Robe Holiday Park employee Darren Cook said the coastal town was picking up due to the school holidays following a quiet winter period.
“The numbers are picking up with the school holidays and the sun is out,” he said.
“It is back to pre-COVID levels in Robe after a very quiet winter and it is good to see people back.”
