Traveling park goers will get an opportunity to extend their stay thanks to Wild Adventures developing a 50-space RV campground this summer.
The Lowndes County Commission gave the park the green light to apply for participation in the Georgia Tourism Development Act Program for the purpose of constructing a short-term RV park called the Safari Campground Resort.
The Georgia Tourism Development Act provides a state sales and use tax incentive program for tourism development projects to encourage the creation or expansion of tourist attractions in the state.
Phase one is about 50 RV sites with ten tenting sites and then the check-in area and, of course, animal habitat operates in that section. We anticipate starting the work in May during our summer season and having it completed by next year.”
According to county officials, this will help reduce unemployment by keeping and making jobs that wouldn’t exist without the state and local government sales and use tax refund.
Jon Vigue, Wild Adventures Theme Park vice president and general manager, told commissioners during a recent county work session that the surrounding area and the park’s emphasis on nature lends itself to taking expansion efforts in this direction.
“So, this project is to take a campground and lay it on the far end of the property. It’s a vacant piece of property right now. This kind of slides open and is adjacent to where we have the majority of our animals. (It) sort of kind of ties the camping experience to the park, which would make it a very unique offering for us. Phase one is about 50 RV sites with ten tenting sites and then the check-in area and, of course, animal habitat operates in that section. We anticipate starting the work in May during our summer season and having it completed by next year,” he said.
The project comes on the heels of Wild Adventures’ other expansion effort, the Oasis Outpost.
Oasis Outpost, a three-acre attraction that will serve as a relaxation and exploration spot for park goers looking to beat the heat, is slated to debut at the start of the 2023 season.
The big question right now is do we know what we need to do with the numbers required from Friday nights and Saturday nights in traffic drives and other things going on in the community.”
Adam Floyd, park media communications manager, described the area as “including an adventurous family ride, immersive animal encounters, a playful water attraction, a fun and unique food location, engaging play zones” at the attraction’s groundbreaking last September.
Paige Dukes, county manager, said the latest development will help with the tourism authority’s focus on hitting weekday visitor targets.
“The big question right now is do we know what we need to do with the numbers required from Friday nights and Saturday nights in traffic drives and other things going on in the community,” she said. “But what we’ve really been focusing on is what we do Sunday night through Thursday and Thursday night and this is something that I believe will open the door and a great way for people to come and stay more than the weekend and I think that turns into this. Visitors will say, ‘We can stay for an extended weekend and maybe this time we bring the RV and we do stuff with the family today.’ So I think that this proves to be useful to the traveling public, that we are much more than a great place to go for just the weekend, and this development takes that to the next level,” she said.
Vigue confirmed that Wild Adventures aims to have the campground up and running by Memorial Day weekend 2024.
