Direct online bookings through Australian holiday park websites have surged in the past 18 months, according to new research from RMS Cloud.

Meanwhile there’s been a simultaneous decline in the percentage of bookings through the major online travel agents.

Clearly the twin trends are aligned, suggesting that the tide has turned with holiday park operators now marketing their properties more aggressively online.

They are also being more disciplined in their use of online travel agents, which charge commissions of 15% or more, and paying greater attention to yield management.

Analysis of RMS Cloud data – based on more than 2 million Australian holiday park bookings over the past five years – shows that:

• Overall holiday park booking numbers through the RMS Cloud system grew at more than 25% a year between 2014 and 2018.
• Direct online bookings for Australian holiday parks in 2018 reached an all-time high of 39%, up from 32% in 2017 (as a percentage of all online bookings).
• Between 2014 and 2017 direct online bookings through RMS Cloud had averaged 32.6% across Australian holiday parks.
• Online travel agents lost significant holiday park share in 2018 as the proportion of direct bookings grew. 

Further details of the RMS Cloud research will be released shortly.

RMS Cloud is leading supplier of booking, distribution and property management technology to Australian holiday parks.

It was founded in Melbourne more than 40 years and now has more than 7,000 clients in 70 countries with offices in Australia, United States, Singapore, Middle East, India, China and the United Kingdom.