RIVERLAND caravan parks are welcoming tourists with open arms after the Federal Government announced all regional accommodation operations could reopen from Monday.
With South Australia recording its second week without any new COVID-19 cases, caravan parks, hotels, motels and Airbnb services have been permitted to resume business.
Berri Riverside Holiday Park manager Merle Venter said the news was “very exciting” given how much business was lost during the lockdown.
“We’re keen to get this business up and running again,” Ms Venter said.
“We’re going to be starting on the back foot, and we’re going to be taking baby steps because we are fearful of a second breakout.
“(But) we can’t wait to see the park 100 per cent full again.”
Ms Venter said while business took a hit during the quiet period, the park was able to also use the time to their advantage and undertake some projects and deep cleaning.
“During the quiet time, it gave us the opportunity to do a lot of sorting and organising within the office,” she said.
“It gave us a lot of time for our maintenance team to work on a couple of projects in the park, and also the housekeeping team, (to get) stuck in and get some good spring and deep cleaning of all the cabins in – washing the curtains and the things one normally doesn’t get the time to do.”
Ms Venter said while the park’s staff were remaining positive, she said they were also being cautious.
She said staff and management were strict about complying with government regulations around hygiene and social distancing, and would not be opening in full until it was safe.
“We feel we’ve put a hell of a lot of work into making sure our park has been safe during this period and we’re going to keep it that way,” she said.
“At this point in time, all our cabins are fully self-contained, so people within South Australia, are welcome to come and travel.
“In terms of the caravan park, as long as they are fully self-contained in their caravan – in that they’ve got a toilet and a bathroom – they can come and check in.
“We are not going to be opening up any of our facilities in stage one, so the amenity block is closed, our mini golf, our kiosk, our swimming pool – all of that is closed.”
Ms Venter said, come the summer period in six months, she hopes more visitors will travel regionally.
“I think the reality is that people have been in lockdown and everyone’s keen to get out.
“The school holidays and Easter weekend families were at home, and I think while everybody’s dying to get out, we need to take into account there are a lot of people who have lost their jobs.
“I just feel the families with kid still at school, we’re going to see more movement in the school holidays in December.
“We just hope a lot of people can recoup their jobs or find new jobs because if they haven’t got the money, they’re not going to be able to travel.”