The unusually low number of campers could mean the temporary tent sites usually set up in the resort centre over New Year might not be available this year.
Greg Hartshorne, manager for the Queenstown Lakes District Council's holiday parks, said the holiday season had been exceptionally quiet.
"We were not fully booked over Christmas this year, and while we are filling up empty spaces for New Year, this is usually a time of the year where we have people queuing to sign in.
"This year we have not had the same crowds as previous years," he said.
Overseas visitors to the holiday parks often show up without booking in advance, and Mr Hartshorne put this year's low bookings down to the domestic market being quiet.
"It seems as though the domestic travellers stayed closer to home this year.
"For example, we are not seeing as many campers from Christchurch as usual."
He said the Arrowtown Born of Gold Holiday Park is traditionally even more dependent on the domestic travellers than the parks in Queenstown.
"Many of the New Zealanders who choose to stay in Arrowtown wish to avoid the intense party crowd in Queenstown," he said.
As the Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park has been filling up, it has opened the old camp site behind the holiday park at the top of Man St for tent sites.
This site can accommodate up to 600 people in tents, and it was filling up fast yesterday - mostly by groups of younger visitors.
Yet, by early afternoon yesterday it was still undecided whether the rugby field by Memorial Hall in central Queenstown would be open for tents on New Year's eve.
"The rugby field will only be open for camping if every holiday park in Queenstown is full.
"Wednesday at noon there was still space available in town, but we will evaluate the situation again Thursday morning and decide if the site will be used for New Year's eve," Mr Hartshorne said.
Even though the camp sites are not yet full, an increasing number of people tried to sidestep the bylaws by camping overnight at public parking lots, he said.
"Tuesday evening alone, I found 11 vans with overnight campers at the library car park.
"Not only is camping outside of allocated sites not permitted in Queenstown, those vans also did not have toilets and grey water collection, as required when staying at unserviced facilities," he said.
