Tourism stalwart is all for bed levy

A FIGHTING force on a mission to win the power for local governments to introduce tourism bed levies can now count a bona fide knight among its swelling ranks.

Sir Frank Moore, widely accepted as the “father of Queensland tourism” – even by Queen Elizabeth II herself – has thrown his full support behind the movement.

“In the places that it’s used, it has given destinations the strength to really grow the industry,” Sir Frank told the Cairns Post.

“It’s all about growing the destinations – the quality of the destinations and the quality of the investors that you bring into the place.

“Once you get something that has a permanent contribution coming into the community, you can plan all sorts of other things.”

Sir Frank has a curriculum vitae longer than a conga line of scrub pythons and, after 90 years treading the earth, has witnessed the ever-expanding phenomenon of bureaucracy for bureaucracy’s sake.

He said granting regional councils the power to charge a per-night pittance to tourists would not only bolster the tourism industry’s war chest – it would also take the political fiddling out of the mix.

“The very small levy that is being collected from the visitors, not from locals, is totally in the hands of the local (tourism) authority, in partnership with the industry associations,” he said.

“It is not subject to any political games.”

Cairns Regional Council Mayor Bob Manning was glad to have Sir Frank on board.

Cr Manning has written to regional mayors across the state urging them to back the tourism levy proposal in hope of securing bipartisan support well before the upcoming state election in October.

“You can’t have an armistice unless you stop shooting each other,” he said.

“Politicians have punching on and cleared up.

“There are no losers – but the big winners are the tourism industry and jobs for Queenslanders.” to get

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