Last minute stays may become a new norm for Australia’s travel industry, with COVID-19 uncertainty meaning the lead time for accommodation bookings has halved.

Australia’s largest regional accommodation provider, the G’DAY Group, has released statistics showing an average booking lead time reduction from 24 days, to just 10.5 days.*

CEO of G’DAY Group, Grant Wilckens, says that the changing traveller behaviour means tourism businesses need to be particularly nimble.

“COVID-19 has us operating in a very different world. The newest challenge to become apparent, is that operators need to be able to scale their operations up quickly due to last minute demand,” said Grant.

“For now at least, the days of being able to plan staffing and other operations based on occupancy a month or so ahead are gone. This window is now around 10 days, and operators need to be more agile than ever before.”

Travellers are also seeking increasingly flexible booking policies, with SiteMinder’s Changing Traveller Report showing that 32% of Australians now rank the ability to cancel or modify bookings as the most important factor when choosing their accommodation compared to prior to COVID-19.

“For the best chance of recovery, tourism businesses need to recognise that many people are nervous to book because travel restrictions can change at any time. We need to make booking risk free, and offer flexibility if plans change,” said Grant.

For more information visit: https://www.discoveryholidayparks.com.au/deals

Media enquiries: Brittany Harmer, Corporate Communications Manager | 0415 655 191, brittany.harmer@discoveryparks.com.au.

About G’day Group

Founded in 2004 with three caravan parks in WA, G’day Group is now Australia’s leader in regional accommodation experiences with more than 340 properties across the country.

G’day Group operates more than 90 holiday parks and resorts under the Discovery Parks and Resorts brand, with properties in iconic regional destinations, including Kings Canyon, Rottnest Island and the world famous El Questro. The Group is also home to G’day Parks, a network of 240+ independently owned, licensed parks and the G’day Rewards loyalty program, which has 260,000 paid members.

Beyond holiday parks and resorts, the Group owns Wikicamps, Australia’s largest regional travel community and the #1 paid app in the App Store with more than 300k monthly active users, as well as Bookeasy, a specialist provider of booking management systems and technology solutions to leading destination management authorities in Australia and New Zealand (operating as BookIt).

G’day Group has property assets valued at $2 billion and is on track to become a $2.5 billion business by 2026. The company is majority owned by Australian Retirement Trust and founder and CEO Grant Wilckens is a Board Director of the South Australian Tourism Commission and former Chair of the Caravan Industry Association of Australia.