Tasman buys another four holiday parks, more in the pipeline
Fast-growing Tasman Holiday Parks, which raised $300 million from private equity late last year, is moving at a cracking pace, buying four more Australian holiday parks.
The new parks – two in Western Australia, one in northern NSW and Tasman’s first Victorian property – cost $65 million, taking its total spend including development to more than $350 million in the past two years.
Tasman now owns 21 holiday parks in Australia and five in New Zealand, all bought since its foundation in 2019.
Chief executive Nikki Milne said there are a further $120 million of Australian assets either under contract or in advanced negotiation, coupled with a $28 million New Zealand pipeline.
Ms Milne said the holiday park industry has proven its operational resilience through COVID-19 with consistently strong performance outside lockdowns and that Tasman is keen to continue investing in prime assets.
“Our forward bookings are up 30 per cent – we’re getting a really nice blend of both growth in average rate and length of average stay,” Ms Milne said.
“People are travelling more frequently, and they’re staying longer. Queensland traded extremely well during COVID.
“NSW obviously had some challenges but as soon as the restrictions lifted there was a really strong return, particularly in the Murray region.”
She said Tasman has bought two leasehold assets in Western Australia, Yallingup Beach Holiday Park and Yallingup Caves Holiday Park, around 36 kilometres north of Margaret River.
“WA is a key market, it presents a lot of opportunities, it’s very tightly held, and now the borders are open to the rest of Australia there’s really strong pent-up demand,” Ms Milne said.
“It’s part of our overarching strategy. We have a very disciplined and focused approach to the deployment of capital, and we really aim to extract value and enhanced returns through development.
“We actively seek assets in key strategic markets underpinned by strong thematics – strong tourism visitation, accessible to major population centres – and we look to build out key geographic clusters or a road network.”
Tasman also acquired the BIG4 Ballina Headlands Holiday Park and the Riverglen Holiday Park in Geelong. Both are freehold and Ms Milne declined to reveal sale prices.
