NOOSA HOLIDAY PARKS - FEES AND CHARGES (Referred from Services & Organisation Committee Dated 9 December 2025) · Report

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING                                                       15 DECEMBER 2025




3. Industry Trends - Occupancy Data

Queensland-wide occupancy data is a key input in developing fees and charges for forward booking
periods at Noosa Holiday Parks. It provides valuable insights into consumer behaviour, market
demand and the relative performance of the region within the broader southeast Queensland holiday
park and campground market.

Incorporating industry occupancy trends into pricing decisions is particularly important in the current
environment, given rising operational costs, the need to achieve commercial return targets that
support Council's general rate revenue, accessibility to residents and visitors and broader economic
pressures. Proposed fee increases should carefully balance the objective of revenue growth with
sensitivity to market conditions, particularly when occupancy is trending downward.

Occupancy data used in this analysis is sourced from the Caravanning Industry Association of
Australia, comparing year-on-year occupancy performance in Queensland regions against the same
month in the previous year. Key observations include:

•   The Sunshine Coast region (which includes Noosa) has underperformed through most of 2025,
    recording downward year-on-year occupancy from February 2025 to September 2025.
•   July 2025 was the only month in 2025 where Sunshine Coast occupancy levels were comparable
    to the previous year.
•   In 2024, the Sunshine Coast occupancy also underperformed relative to 2023, with year-on-year
    declines recorded from August to December 2024.
Internal nights-sold data for the Noosa Holiday Parks program aligns with these broader regional
trends with year-on-year comparisons indicate a softening in demand throughout 2025. These trends
highlight the importance of adopting a strategic, balanced approach to pricing for Noosa Holiday
Parks.

4. Benchmarking

Benchmarking has been undertaken against fees and charges at comparable government and
privately-owned camping and caravan parks with the Noosa Council, Fraser Coast Council, Gympie
Regional Council, Sunshine Coast Council, City of Gold Coast and Tweed Shire Council regions.
This process ensures that the Noosa Holiday Park fees and charges remain consistent with regional
and industry pricing while continuing to meet competitive neutrality requirements.

Previous benchmarking indicated that Council was well positioned relative to comparable regions
and sites, however subsequent and in some cases substantial increases by other parks and regions
have widened the pricing gap, necessitating an increase to maintain competitive neutrality.

6. Summary

While increases in fees and charges are required to maintain competitive neutrality and respond to
increasing operational costs, Council should also remain sensitive to the broader industry context.

The proposed schedule of fees seeks to strike an appropriate balance between:

•   maintaining competitive neutrality
•   addressing rising operational costs
•   sustaining and improving financial performance