The Council-run Surfside Holiday Parks have had a busy summer, despite a reduciton in capacity for COVID-19 safety reasons.
"To reduce the risk posed by COVID-19, Warrnambool City Council made a decision last year to operate our holiday parks at a reduced capacity," Warrnambool City Council Director City Growth Andrew Paton said.
"We were still able to welcome a substantial number of guests in our parks (8,737 registered guests this summer from 26/12 to 26/1 compared to 12,052 for the same period last season).
"The restructured arrangements meant we had several families enjoying shorter stays at a single site instead of one group occupying a site for up to four weeks.
"One of the benefits of the increased rotation of sites was that we attracted a new cohort of visitors, many of whom had not visited Warrnambool before.
"In light of persistent issues with COVID-19 elsewhere around Australia, we believe the approach Council has taken to managing our Parks over summer was the responsible call for the safety of visitors, staff and our community.
"We based our decision on advice from the DHHS and our own environmental health officers and considered not only the area of the parks but also the number of people using amenities including toilets and laundries."
