Reflections Holiday Park at Lake Keepit reports busiest holiday season in decades

Every cabin at Reflections Holiday Park, on the shores of Lake Keepit, has been booked out since before Christmas. Bush camping was also very close to full for the entire holiday break.

Manager Leith Smith said veterans of the caravan park say it's the busiest they've seen in "20 years plus".

"It's been pretty outstanding, actually," he said.

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He estimated the park has had thousands of visitors over the last fortnight.

It comes as a relief for the local business after many quiet years in a row.

At its lowest, Lake Keepit was just 0.6 per cent full, with the grim sight deterring tourists.

After several weeks of thunderstorm and rain activity, the dam is now 38.9 per cent full, as of Sunday.

"I think it's a bit of a perfect storm. [The water level] is a lot to do with it. But also people have been locked up for so long due to COVID, and they know there's plenty of space out here where they can come and enjoy themselves and not have to work about other people around them," Mr Smith said.

"Even though we've had record numbers out here there's still plenty of space so people can have their own area."

Some visitors have had to wipe the cobwebs off their gear, Mr Smith laughed.

"There's been years of dry so to see a good body of water is pretty good. Everybody's bringing their boats out; a lot of flat batteries because they haven't been started in a couple of years," he joked.

"We've had quite a few flat batteries, ski ropes have perished, stuff like that."

Most park visitors are locals, but the local institution is starting to attract tourists from further afield.

There will always be something special about the region's inland dams that will keep locals coming back again and again, rather than heading to a beach holiday, he said.

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"I like it because there's no biting things in it, myself," Mr Smith said.

"I think it's close, closer to home, you don't have to take a week off. You're local, if anything goes wrong or there's a storm, people can just head home.

"A lot of locals grew up as kids [holidaying at the dams], and now they're bringing kids or bringing their grandkids and doing the exact same as they used to."

The region's tourism sector is preparing for an unusually quiet January period, with the Tamworth Country Music Festival cancelled thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pubs and clubs report their usual influx of casual job applications from returning university students has not eventuated, with one hotelier blaming the festival's cancellation for the shortfall.

But the business community hopes a planned small-scale festival could attract at least some tourists, plus locals during what would ordinarily be among the busiest time of year for licenced venues.

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