Careers in Holiday Parks and Resorts
Do you want to work in tourism and hospitality? Do you like working with people and doing a variety of tasks? Or like working mostly outside? Then consider working in a caravan park. Holiday parks these days offer much in the way of accommodation with park cabins, swimming pools, sporting facilities, shops, restaurants and conference facilities as well as the traditional sites for caravanning and camping.
An ever increasing and popular industry within the tourism sector - the caravan industry is a rapidly increasing area for tourism employment. A varied and people oriented work environment the modern holiday or resort park offers a wide and assorted mix of career opportunities.
Those working in caravan parks, or holiday or tourist parks as they may be called, usually work in either parks and grounds maintenance or the park office. Parks with cabins and chalets offer work in housekeeping. In the smaller parks, you may need to be multi-skilled and work in all areas. The larger parks may also offer employment as activities officers or tour guides!
For the discerning holiday park employee normally two basic streams of employment are offered:
Operations: The grounds keeping, maintenance and upkeep of the property’s accommodation, facilities and equipment.
Administration: The reception, administration, marketing and record keeping of the individual departments as well as the overall business operation.
- Park Attendants: housekeeping staff, grounds staff, maintenance staff, receptionists, reservation staff, kiosk staff
- Park Supervisors: Housekeeping supervisor, Grounds Supervisor, Assistant managers, Caretakers, Relief management, Tour guides,
Activities coordinators - Park Managers: resort managers, park managers
What do those working in caravan parks do?
Some of the tasks and job descriptions are many and varied. A few of the more standard positions and the associated duties will be:
Housekeeper
- Provide housekeeping services to guests
- Prepare rooms for guests
- Clean premises and equipment
- Plan and organise daily work
- Follow health, safety and security procedures
- Perform office procedures
- Provide visitor information
- Deal with conflict situations
- Receive and store stock
- Control reservations or operations using a computerised system
Receptionist
- Plan and organise daily work
- Work with colleagues and customers
- Develop and update tourism industry knowledge
- Provide accommodation reception services
- Perform office procedures
- Source and present information
- Provide visitor information
- Provide quality customer service
- Create and use spreadsheets
- Control reservations or operations using a computerised system
Maintenance Person
- Plan and organise daily work
- Follow health, safety and security procedures
- Identify hazards, and assess and control safety risks
- Operate small plant and equipment
- Provide general grounds care
- Carry out general maintenance activities
- Monitor pool water quality
- Coach others in job skills
- Control and order stock
- Fill gas cylinders
Resort Managers
- Work in a socially diverse environment
- Participate in environmentally sustainable work practices
- Conduct online research
- Source and present information
- Deal with conflict situations
- Create electronic presentations
- Use business technology
- Review and maintain a website
- Process accounts payable and receivable
- Organise in-house recreational activities
What are the career opportunities?
The caravan industry offers regular work and the opportunity to gain a range of tourism and hospitality skills. This means that you can continue to work in a park, maybe as a supervisor or manager, or may move into other related tourism or hospitality areas. Those working in grounds maintenance may also move into horticulture.
Download The Job I Love, our careers guide to the service industries
What training do you need?
To gain the skills required to work in a caravan park you can undertake the Certificate III or IV in Holiday Parks and Resorts and Diploma in Holiday Parks and Resorts. You can specialise in the area you require or ‘multi-skill’ if you wish.
Certificate III in Holiday Parks and Resorts is designed to reflect the role of a person working in a holiday park. The role may be that of a holiday park administrator or receptionist working in the front office of a holiday park, a person maintaining the appearance and presentation of a holiday park, or a multi-skilled person working in a small park.
Certificate IV in Holiday Parks and Resorts is designed to reflect the role of holiday park employees who operate with supervisory or management responsibilities, such as Assistant Park Manager, or Park Grounds Supervisor. This course is designed for those who wish to acquire supervisory skills in addition to operational skills.
Diploma in Holiday Parks and Resorts is designed for qualified employees who wish to be managers and/or owners of holiday parks.
Most training is done through an Australian traineeship, although it is possible to undertake short courses and achieve work experience on the job. Sometimes holiday park work can be seasonal, you may be interested in a part-time Australian Apprenticeship whilst at school, or one through group training organisations (limited supply) who may be able to offer work with several parks.
More information
The Caravan, RV & Accommodation Industry of Australia (CRVA) is the peak body for caravan parks, manufacturers and retailers of industry products, suppliers of goods and services and service providers within the Caravan Industry. Their website at http://www.welovethiscountry.com.au/ provides information on industry products, events, online shop, media information, holiday parks and accreditation information.
