A 28 per cent drop in camper numbers will be exacerbated by a significant reduction in the length of stays, compounding the revenue impact.

In early December the council decided that people who camped in Warrnambool for longer than a week would be forced out for one night a week under strict cleaning protocols aimed at a COVID-safe summer.

The cleaning guidelines, which were later revised, and a ballot to reduce capacity had a dramatic impact on patronage.

Moyne Shire took a different approach to its caravan parks and has had a record-breaking summer season.

Warrnambool council director of city growth Andrew Paton has now said to reduce the risk posed by COVID-19, Warrnambool City Council made a decision last year to operate its holiday parks at a reduced capacity.

"We were still able to welcome a substantial number of guests in our parks - 8737 registered guests this summer from December 26 to January 26 compared to 12,052 for the same period last season," he said.

"The restructured arrangements meant we had several families enjoying shorter stays at a single site instead of one group occupying a site for up to four weeks.

"One of the benefits of the increased rotation of sites was that we attracted a new cohort of visitors, many of whom had not visited Warrnambool before."

Mr Paton said council stood by its COVID decisions.

"In light of persistent issues with COVID-19 elsewhere around Australia, we believe the approach council has taken to managing our Parks over summer was the responsible call for the safety of visitors, staff and our community," he said.

"We based our decision on advice from the DHHS and our own environmental health officers and considered not only the area of the parks, but also the number of people using amenities including toilets and laundries."

However, as The Standard reported on Wednesday, Moyne council took a different approach to COVID and Port Fairy has had a record-breaking summer season.

Port Fairy Accommodation holiday accommodation manager Reinette van Rooyen said it had been a bumper summer, starting in November, soon after the second Victorian coronavirus lockdown was lifted.

She said while accommodation was as usual booked out between mid-December and mid-January, the summer season started much earlier, in November.

She said the big exodus was expected on January 31, instead of January 26 and weekends in February were already attracting unusual attention.

"It has been very busy," she said.

"We've had more of an extended peak season, starting earlier than normal and going on past January 26.

"It's been a much longer peak season. November definitely picked up quite a lot and that trend has continued."

Ms Van Rooyen said in those slower periods, from November and now into February, Port Fairy was attracting more visitors.

"We are definitely 20 to 25 per cent up in those slightly slower periods. We're already running at 75 to 80 per cent occupancy rates for weekends in February," she said.

It's believed the Moyne Shire-run parks, at Gardens Oval and Southcombe Park, are averaging around 1000 people per night during January.

"At their fullest in the past month there were 1200 people at Southcombe Park and 1300 at Gardens," a spokeswoman said.

Those figures do not take into account the visitors staying at privately operated caravan parks in the town or private accommodation, which peaked at a total of about 5500 people.

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