A regular camper at a Sunshine Coast holiday park has been stunned to find a family getaway would cost 35 per cent more next year.
Chris Symons has been holidaying with family at the Cotton Tree Holiday Park for a month every January for 38 years.
Their site cost them about $525 a week for January this year but she said she handed over $714 when she paid the usual one-week fee to re-book for 2026.
“We’ve always had increases. It might have gone from $460 to $480 or it might have gone from $485 to $540, but all of a sudden we’ve gone from whatever it was, $520, to now we’re paying $700 a week.
“Thirty-five per cent – that’s unbelievable.”
The increase means that what bought the family four weeks’ holiday this year will only buy them three next year.
Mrs Symons said that when she queried the increase, a park manager told her campers had “had it cushy for too long because everything went up during Covid, and we’re in a business, we’re here to make money, nobody runs anything at a loss”.
A Sunshine Coast Council spokesperson has attributed the fee increase to rising expenses and “dynamic” pricing, which adjusts according to demand.
“Council Holiday Parks are actively addressing the rising costs of power, water, gas, insurance and wages. To ensure we continue providing an excellent holiday experience and investing in our amenities, we have made necessary price adjustments,” they said.
“To stay competitive, we regularly review the prices of nearby and similar holiday parks. We are proud to say that our holiday parks remain among the more affordable options on the Sunshine Coast and across South-East Queensland.
“As is a very common within the accommodation and travel industry, council employs dynamic pricing.
“It uses real-time data from automated booking systems to adjust the pricing based on demand, with council capping this increase to no more than 20 per cent.”
There was no explanation, other than dynamic pricing and expenses, for why the Symons’ site fees had increased by 35 per cent given they are supposed to be capped at 20 per cent.
Mrs Symons said she could not see too many expense increases for the park management in the family’s regular site.
She said the park had one less amenities block after the one closest to the family’s site was removed last year, prompting her husband to invest in a camping toilet.
“We don’t have any electricity, we’re only using a bit of water to have a shower, and we’re not going in the water very much because the water is dirty,” she said, referring to excrement her daughter saw in the nearby river.
Mrs Symons said park management also now wanted payment of the full fee more than four months in advance of their arrival.
She said instead of paying a week’s worth at the time of booking and the balance by the beginning of November, as per past practice, guests were now asked to pay 50 per cent of their total fee by mid-May and the remainder by the beginning of September.
“They are actually having all of our money before we start our holiday. How much interest are they paying us?” she said.
In neighbouring Noosa Shire, the Noosa River Holiday Park’s rates have increased between 2.5 per cent and 2.9 per cent at peak times and between 3.1 per cent and 3.6 per cent off-peak.
Rates at the two other council-owned holiday parks at Boreen Point and Noosa North Shore have risen between 2.9 and 4 per cent at peak times and between 3.2 and 4 .4 per cent off-peak.
