HOLIDAY-MAKERS have already started to arrive in Bright and Porepunkah, but there are early signs the cost of living may have an impact on one of the busiest periods for the local tourism industry.
According to a number of holiday parks and rental property managers in the Alpine Shire area, the volume of guests over the holidays remains the same, however the duration of their visits are reduced.
"I'd say we would have the same number of people who have made reservations with us as last year," said a spokesperson for the Big4 Porepunkah Holiday Park.
"People come to the area to attend annual events and relax with activities in the shire like hiking, biking, parasailing and so on.
"But cost of living pressures probably make it different for families compared to last year.
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"The place is busy, but people are cutting back the number of nights they're here and not staying as long as they usually do.
"At the moment there are vacancies throughout January...I've had four cancellations this morning,"
Rental property bookings are similarly affected this holiday season.
"This year, we have 1616 nights booked across our portfolio," said Ashleigh Nightingale, property manager for holiday rentals at Dickens Real Estate in Bright.
"Looking at our figures, occupancy is down by about two per cent from last year, with the number of total booked nights last year at 1688, for the period starting December 20 to the end of January.
"A very marginal decline obviously, but the numbers are still down.
"We think the interest rate rises and cost of living have definitely had an impact on how many nights people are booking and how often they are travelling.
"They might decide to give up their Christmas holiday if they’ve already gone away for Easter, for example."
