Push to energise CBD

Chamber sells idea of Esplanade revamp

CAIRNS Chamber of Commerce has put the ball in coucil’s court over how to make the Esplanade more attractive to locals and visitors.

A recent survey of chamber members and local business owners revealed most were in favour of beautifying the Esplanade and closing it off in some form to vehicle traffic.

Cairns Chamber of Commerce president Nick Loukas said an improved Esplanade would have a flow-on effect to the rest of the businesses in the CBD.

“We want activity not just on the Esplanade, but to all of the CBD …,” he said.

“We will be talking with council to work with them and see how we can make it happen; we’d like to see something happen this year.”

Crystalbrook CEO Mark Davie said a beautified Esplanade, closed to traffic in the evenings would help Cairns stand out in an increasingly competitive

“Most major cities and resort towns, including Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane have these … tourism-friendly food and entertainment precincts which are closed to traffic at certain times of day,” he said.

“Our suggestion for Cairns is to focus on how to make it more attractive to tourists in an environment where the competition is getting tougher and tougher. tourism landscape.

“With … locations like Bali and Hawaii pulling tourists away from Australia, we need to look at the way it could develop to pull them back.”

Cairns Mayor Bob Manning said the council was looking into plans to redevelop the precinct via the City Centre Master Plan.

“We are looking at a range of options for future improvements, based on how residents use the space and what elements they value,” he said.

“Council has conducted extensive community consultation to gauge residents’ opinions of the Esplanade and the rest of the city centre.

“We also value the input of our business community and will take on board the results of the Chamber of Commerce survey.”

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