The temporary closure of 20 sites at Hervey Bay’s Torquay Caravan Park is set to hit the local economy hard … giving an indication perhaps of just how much grey nomads and other travellers contribute financially.
The sites will be out of commission from July until March next year while improvements are made to the rock wall at the Torquay foreshore … and not everyone is happy.
With one night costing between $30 and $50, the park itself could lose more than $160,000 in revenue, and surrounding businesses will also feel the pinch.
Torquay IGA owner Graham Sewell told the Fraser Coast Chronicle that he was among those who would be left counting the cost.
“Between around May to February, caravan parks and tourists would make up about 60% of my business,” he said. “The thing is, all those people in those caravan parks are close by and they buy everything they need from my store every day, it’s what my whole business is based on.”
He said even if the visitors were able to stay somewhere else in Hervey Bay, he would still lose business.
“Pushing them further away from my facility, it’ll be harder to track them down,” he told the Chronicle. “Right now it’s a walk away for them.”
The rock wall is being built to prevent further erosion of the foreshore, and the sites will used to store earth moving machinery and stockpile sand and rock.
The council said it had contacted people who had booked sites to let them know of the works and offered sites in other areas of the park or the council’s other foreshore caravan parks. * Do you think the financial contribution of grey nomads and other camper is under appreciated in many places … until they are gone? Comment below
Nine months to build a rock wall? Obviously a council approved “improvement” and conducted by council employees. I saw them working near a caravan park close to Torquay last year and I think 9 months is being very conservative.