The June 2020 quarter will go down in history as being one of the most turbulent and uncertain periods for tourism this century.
In an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19, Federal and State governments imposed a range of measures that sought to contain the spread of the Virus. These included broad bans on international travel and shut-downs of may parts of the economy that included tourist parks.
While trading regulations differed between jurisdictions, the caravan industry was hit with both trading restrictions as well as reduced demand from consumers unable to freely move around the country as usual. Not much happened in the June 2020 quarter that was positive for business apart from government intervention that was decisive and showed glimpses of strong leadership that has been desired for so long.
Generally people were working together through unprecedented times during the Quarter, including landlords, employers and staff together with state and federal governments.
Parks generally continued to show their resilience during the COVID-19 downturn, due in part to their diversified product offering and ability to quickly adopt technology. This was evidenced by park occupancy during the period when compared to hotels/motels with some reports suggesting hotel occupancy fell to below 10% at points during the June 2020 quarter.
Download a copy of the June 2020 Heartbeat Report for further analysis.