Study to back tourist push

themercury.com.au

THE Government has funded a $40,000 research project that will support arguments for growth and development in Tasmania’s nature-based tourism industry.

The study was launched by Environment, Parks and Heritage Minister Peter Gutwein yesterday, but was labelled by Greens Leader Cassy O’Connora as a “desperate attempt to deflect attention” from its controversial EOI process.

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Mr Gutwein said the research paper would enable government, industry and tourism operators to “better understand the economic contribution of the nature-based tourism sector”.

He said it would provide “greater clarity on the economic benefits of the tourism sector and provide information to support critical long-term tourism strategies currently being developed”.

“Our national parks and reserves are one of the key drivers of growth in our visitor economy, with close to half of our tourists saying they come here to see them,” Mr Gutwein said.

“Maintaining Tasmania’s brand as the leader in nature tourism is critical for both the state’s tourism industry and its economy more broadly.”

Mr Gutwein said the study would provide an “agreed set of facts”.

Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania CEO Luke Martin said there had been a lot of criticism about the naturebased tourism projects lately.

“We know we’ve got a nature tourism sector in Tasmania that really is the backbone of Tasmanian tourism,” he said.

“We need the chance to be able to actually say, ‘hang on, this is an important engine room for the state economy and many regional parts of the state where there would not be any economic activity if it wasn’t for the nature tourism sector’.”

Mr Martin said recent heat on the sector meant industry and Government needed to better explain the sector’s value and demonstrate that “this sector is real, it’s tangible, they’re real jobs”.

“We want to see this industry grow. What we’re doing here is collaborating and trying to get the resources so that we can get some credible economic data that all stakeholders can interpret and use.”

The Government process for assessing proposals for tourism projects on public land has been criticised in recent months.

Ms O’Connor said: “The report being commissioned into the profits from nature-based tourism is just a blatant attempt at greenwashing.

“We don’t need a taxpayerfunded study, we know what the problem is.

“The problem is not properly managing the increase in visitation, and privatising rather than protecting wilderness.”