Glendhu Bay campground's new Aussie owners to meet with public

Note: This story has changed since first published, and a reference to 50 percent price hikes for Christmas has been removed. A statement from the holiday park operator on new charges can be found here. It responds to claims made by one camper of a $30 jump in costs to take a family of four camping at the site over the busy holiday period.

The Australian company now running the Glendhu Bay Lakeside Holiday Park has set the date for its meeting with the public after taking ownership last year, and has indicated a price increase for next Christmas.

The company's chief executive Frank Sharkey has confirmed his attendance at the meeting, scheduled for Friday, May 17 at 10am in the guest lounge area of the Glendhu Bay camp.

The notice of the public meeting says it will provide an update on operations and proposed minor improvements to the camp, now run by Hampshire Holiday Parks Limited.

When the sale went through the Overseas Investment Office recognised the significance of the Glendhu Bay camp to locals and its regular campers and required the company to meet with the public.

"Although there have been no substantive changes to operations since the change of leasehold owner, the meeting will introduce the CEO of Hampshire and other key staff to interested persons," the notice says.

In what was a big Queenstown Lakes holiday camp buy-up, Hampshire Holiday Parks Limited bought the rights to run Glendhu Bay Motor Camp last year, as well as Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park, Arrowtown Holiday Park, Wānaka Lakeview Holiday Park, and Albert Town Camp Ground.

The Aussie company's chief executive will propose improvements and update public on operations since they took over the books.

Another condition of the consent from the Overseas Investment Office detailed Hampshire Holiday Parks Limited could not substantially alter the operations of Glendhu Bay Motor Camp.

When the sale got the tick of approval in 2023, the Aussie operators said they had ideas for improvements to the newly acquired camps, such as constructing cabins, refurbishing rooms, and introducing rainwater tanks as well as smart technologies like customer data analytics and cloud-based software.

Meanwhile, in recent weeks, the Overseas Investment Office has announced approval for Hampshire Holiday Parks Limited to also purchase a 48-year lease of the Kaikōura Top 10 holiday park, taking their Kiwi camp tally to six.

Crux contacted the Glendhu Bay camp for comment today but was told by staff the manager was unavailable for comment.

However one return camper, of Dunedin, has told Crux when they went online in February to book a site for this Christmas they noticed the price had "rocketed" for their family of four. While their bill last year was close to $65 a night, indications were this year's would be close to $100, they say.

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