BACKPACKER BONANZA
Hostels near capacity as tourism begins to return New minister Natasha Fyles told sector needs ‘big projects to survive’
MAJOR projects and “big changes” to boost Central Australia tourism are what is needed right now, lest the NT risk the market drying up in five to 10 years as destinations across the globe prepare to compete for travellers once the pandemic ends, the head of Tourism Central Australia has said.
Tourism Central Australia boss Patrick Bedford welcoming the appointment of the Territory’s new tourism minister, Natasha Fyles, but said the Red Centre had been “left behind” by travellers and needed to find a new identity after people began bypassing Alice Springs on the way to Uluru.
Getting the National Aboriginal Art Gallery off the ground and sealing the Mereenie Loop Tourist Drive was high on the list. It comes as Ms Fyles, in her first trip as the minister-in-charge of reviving the sector brought to its knees by the pandemic, travelled to Alice Springs to open major art festival Parrtjima.
Ms Fyles said her priorities in the immediate term for the portfolio, alongside consulting with tourism stakeholders, would be to “strategically place the NT” as a destination for domestic tourists, tapping into the drive market and positioning the Territory as the safest place to come and holiday.
She wants also to raise with the federal government the need to fast track hundreds of millions of dollars that have been set aside to upgrade the Kakadu and Uluru-Kata Tjuta national parks.
A significant challenge in the next few months will be convincing tourists to come to the NT, where the Top End will be wet and the Red Centre will be scorching hot.
“I’m very cautious as to how the government can get people to come from Sydney (where people will be able to travel freely into the NT as early as October 9) and if people are going to travel out of their state when they have nice cool weather down there and come here for 45C weather in Central Australia or heat in the Top End,” Mr Bedford said.
Nationally, the domestic tourism sector suffered an $11.7 billion hit between April and May, traditional peak season for the Territory, as coronavirus restrictions ripped up travel and holiday plans.
It’s hoped the next two rounds of the NT’s tourism voucher scheme, worth $10 million and scheduled to launch in November and then in February 2021, will help the struggling tourism industry get through its low period during the NT’s wet season.