Tourist operators in the Bay of Plenty are experiencing a surge in bookings for the Christmas period but fear the New Year will bring more empty campsites.

In the last week holiday tourist operators throughout the Western Bay had an increase in the number of bookings, with some holiday parks now fully booked for the Christmas break.

Papamoa Beach Top 10 Holiday Resort general manager Rebecca Crosby talks with camper David Taylor.

Maketu Beach Holiday Park owner Shane Beech says despite a number of cancellations following the Rena grounding on October 5, he has had an increase in bookings in the last week.

'We are starting to get a few more bookings now. In the last seven days the phone has started to ring.

'It hasn't completely made up for the number of bookings we lost due to the Rena, but it is better than we thought.”

The holiday park caters for between 80 to 100 people, with most of the recent bookings coming from families.

It has been two months since the 47,000 tonne ship Rena ran aground on Astrolabe Reef, spilling 350 tonnes of oil into the water and onto Western Bay of Plenty beaches.

Shane says as people now realise the beaches are clean and the threat of oil has minimised, with almost all of the oil being removed from the ship's tanks, people are deciding the Bay of Plenty is still one of New Zealand's top holiday spots.

'Most people have been waiting for confirmation the beaches are open, and now everything has been given the green light, the seafood is ok, and people can go fishing, they are starting to book.”

Papamoa Beach Top 10 Holiday Resort is one of the worst hit businesses from the Rena oil spill with beaches there being closed for weeks for to clean up operations.

With the beaches now clean and open, general manager Rebecca Crosby says bookings are picking up but the losses due to the Rena will not be known until March next year.

'There has been a downturn since the Rena, we have lost a lot of money. We have managed to convince our peak bookings to hold off from cancelling.

'We won't really know how we have feared until the end of the season, at the end of March.”

Rebecca says business has picked up in the last 10 days with the complex almost at its 1100 person capacity from Boxing Day until January 10.

She says business is even looking steady for the rest of January, however it is the February - March period that worries her.

'We normally get our bookings for late January, February and March over October and November and with Rena that hasn't happened.

'Especially with the media continuing to show images of black oil – that is not what the beaches are like.”

Rebecca says it is business as usual at the beach now, with the surf club fully operational, fishing and surfing daily.

Waihi Beach Top 10 Holiday Park operations manager Angie Robinson says all of the park's 66 tent sites are now booked from December 26 to January 31.

'A lot of our business is repeat customers who return each year, generation to generation.”

Angie says 90 per cent of the 30 units on site are also booked as people's immediate concerns over the state of the beaches due to Rena subside.

'I think initially everyone went into panic mode and were hesitant about booking because people were scared that there was oil on the beaches.

'We have done everything to assure them things are fine and very few seem to be concerned now.”

Tourism brings in $450million into the Bay of Plenty's economy each year, and a majority of this comes from spending during the Christmas and New Year period.

Tourism Bay of Plenty general manager Glenn Ormsby says the organisation has been working very hard to ensure the number of visitors during the summer season matches last year.

'There was definitely an initial impact when Rena happened, but we are working hard to make sure people know the Bay of Plenty is a great destination for summer.

'It is really hard to say how many people will be visiting.

'We have had great support from other tourism organisations that are keen to see the Bay of Plenty back in business.”

Glenn says businesses throughout the region have shown real Kiwi ingenuity.

'The businesses themselves have showed a lot of ingenuity through their communications with customers. People have also been putting their hands in their own pockets and coming up with some great deals to entice visitors.”

Glenn says many people will see that beaches are open, fish are back on the menu and there is shopping and adventure, which is attracting people back to the Bay.