Fee proposal for falls sparks flow of debate
A PLAN to help Millaa Millaa reap some financial benefits from the busloads of tourists who visit the town’s famous waterfall has been met with criticism from the public.
The idea of charging a fee to visit the Queensland Heritagelisted waterfall – an initiative of the Millaa Millaa Lions Club and revealed by club member and local real estate agent Pat Reynolds yesterday – could help bolster the Atherton Tablelands town.
But online, commentators were furious.
“I think they’d lose the tourists,” said Carolyn Slade.
Shirley Sampson agreed, saying: “That’s one way to keep the tourists away.”
“You should not have to pay for natural attractions,” said Janette Barnes.
Craig Watson suggested charging tour companies and bus groups, not individuals.
“As long as the money is put back into the site to upgrade facilities. Chinese won’t know the difference,” he said.
Fifi Anne’s suggestion that promotion of the falls would lead tourists to using the local cafes, service stations and convenience stores was a good theory, but something that was not happening in practice, Mr Reynolds said.
“If you asked me about 10 years ago, I would have been one of those saying ‘no way, we can’t charge to see the falls’,” he said.
“But it would be remiss of (the Millaa Millaa Lions Club) to not look at options to save our town. We understand the backlash, but they’re not the ones who will get a vote.
“In Tasmania on a recent trip, we had to pay for everything and happily did.
“Millaa Millaa residents (pay) rates and that pays for all the maintenance of the toilets, the bitumen, the cleaning of the rubbish that’s left at the falls and that’s all money going out of our town with no benefit to us.”
Millaa Millaa, which is 100km southwest of Cairns, has changed over the past 30 years from a farming town to a lifestyle town.
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