The operator picked to take over the closed Curio Bay campground and Curioscape cafe has withdrawn, and Southland District Council voted on Wednesday 11 November for an interim deal for the 2026/27 season.
The operator, who has not been named, was chosen this month after an expressions of interest process, a council report shows. Staff have since turned to other respondents, working with the South Catlins Charitable Trust.
The report said the process drew "significant interest" from across the country. Four formal expressions of interest were received.
Councillors backed a two-stage plan: a stopgap arrangement for the coming season, then from early 2027, work on how the site should be run in the long term.
They gave the council's chief executive authority to appoint a campground operator. Any interim arrangement must end no later than 30 June 2027.
Councillors also agreed to lease the land under the nearby Tumu Toka Curioscape building to the trust, which owns the building. Before its temporary closure in April, Curioscape housed a cafe, a gift shop and a visitor centre.
The campground has been shut since April. Its lease, which also covered Curioscape, expired in late June.
"Staff fielded more than a dozen calls, advertised through and sought advice from the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association, and spoke with campground operators throughout New Zealand," the report said.
About 17,300 stays were logged at the campground in 2025, mostly in summer. The area is home to Hector's dolphins, yellow-eyed penguins, or hoiho, and the petrified forest.
The council and trust disagreed in October over how the lease had been handled.
Nick Stratford, who owns Curio Bay Accommodation and is a former trustee, told Local Democracy Reporting at the time the matter should have been dealt with months earlier.
"This should have been solved in June when they were told the lease was expired with the trust," Mr Stratford said.
Council acting group manager Jendi Paterson said the council and trust had discussed the site's future "well before" the lease ended. Both had agreed the old arrangement was not fit for purpose, she said.
The council has paid for water to be trucked to Curio Bay since at least 2019, after a bore installed by the trust became unusable because of salinisation. Water deliveries cost $29,700 last financial year.
In all, the council spent about $84,000 on the site that year, covering water, rubbish, maintenance and a payment to the trust, an October council report said.
What happens next
Council staff will keep talking to the other parties who responded to the expressions of interest process. The chief executive can now appoint an operator for the season without the decision going back to councillors.
Work on a long-term model for running the campground is due to start in early 2027, once the interim arrangement is in place.
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