Rival for tourists a worry

CAIRNS threatens to take a bigger slice of the region’s tourist dollar when a $ 53 million privately- owned aquarium opens, raising concerns Townsville’s Reef HQ will suffer.

Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill said she would be concerned if the new aquarium had been given permits to display living coral.

“I heard they couldn’t get the permits to get living coral,” Cr Hill said.

“If they have permission to have living coral I will be talking to someone about that.”

Cairns Aquarium general manager Julie Cullen said it would be the only “deep reef” exhibit in Australia and some exhibits certainly would feature live coral.

“We will have some live corals and we will have some artificial corals,” she said. “We have been engaging with GBRMPA ( Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority) and we are collaborating with them.

“We will be working on coral propagation through our research and development departments.”

Townsville tourism booking agency Tropical Travel and Accommodation manager Maria Chippendale said Townsville benefited from the success of Cairns and the Whitsundays.

“The more the region has to offer, the better it is for everyone,” Mrs Chippendale said. “It will be of some concern but we have the turtle hospital at Reef HQ and that is certainly something people want to see and it is an educational facility. It remains to be seen whether it will be a problem, in the visitor numbers.”

Cairns Aquarium owners, former Melbourne entrepreneurs and now Cairns residents Daniel Liepnik and Andrew Preston, have said the aquarium would become “the most visited land- based attraction in the region”.