Smiles all round for online booking system

Online booking is making it easier for visitors to secure camp sites, entry permits and accommodation in Northern & Yorke and Limestone Coast parks. The new system got a good work out over Easter with campers, day visitors and parks staff still smiling long after the egg hunts were over.

"Booking ahead takes the stress out of having to rush to the park to stake a claim," Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Parkranger-in-charge Mark Davison said. "This means the roads are safer and visitors are more relaxed when they arrive."

"When I spoke to campers over the Easter weekend, many told me how good it was to travel up on Good Friday knowing a camp site was assured."

The Easter long weekend is traditionally one of the busiest holiday periods for Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park. In the past, campers had to book on arrival with no certainty that there would be sites available.

This year, all camp sites were booked a week before the Easter break for Good Friday and Easter Saturday and all Inneston accommodation was fully booked for the duration of the Easter weekend.

Mr Davison said that 1326 vehicles entered the park over the Easter holiday period. "But there were no double-bookings for any site and only three instances of people arriving who had not booked."

Park staff reported that visitor behaviour was exemplary over the Easter period, with no expiations issued and no camp-fires. Staff believe this was most likely the result of online booking which freed up staff and allowed them to speak with all campers on their sites.

"We still have some issues with the self-serve computer at the Innes Visitor Centre but on-duty staff were able to step in quickly over Easter and assist visitors."

"There is still some tweaking to do but the Easter experience has confirmed that online booking is providing a much better service to park visitors than the old ‘first-come-first served’ system", Mr Davison said.

Park staff from Mount Remarkable National Park also reported that the online booking system worked well over Easter.

In the coming months, the online booking system will be rolled out for entry, camping and accommodation in other parks, for access to park facilities such as tennis courts, and for dive permits.

Online booking information is available as Facebook posts, on the environment.sa website, from local Yorke Peninsula and Southern Flinders Ranges businesses, on signage and from the Natural Resources Centre Clare (8841 3444).