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The Forum > Article Comments > Tourism's long green miles > Comments

Tourism's long green miles : Comments

By Ross Elliott, published 27/8/2012

If even letting some mountain bikes and horse riders re-enter our national parks draws criticism, what hope is there for developing new product for the industry state-wide?

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Extremely well argued thoughtful article. If we would but follow the greens to their eventual desired location, we would find ourselves living like slaves, doing a dawn to dark gut-bust simply to survive in the agrarian lifestyle villages they desire for the whole re-afforested world?
Naturally, they would be the new elite, with a few solar panels, lap tops and mobile phones, [minimal lifestyle,] to allow other to recognise them, as the new natural forest saving leaders?
What is wrong with that picture, is what we could become if we simply followed that evocation?
Northern Ethiopia, was once a forested landscape covered in verdant forest. Dotted amongst that forest were numerous villages and populations, living the very hand to mouth lifestyles, espoused by Green acolytes?
Two disastrous droughts in recent living memory, have changed that once verdant landscape into a veritable lunar landscape. And a now a dispossessed migrant population wanders aimlessly, looking for sanctuary and international food aid to simply survive.
The Greens will shrug their couldn't care less shoulders or come up with population reduction measures?
Like, simply refuse to help or provide food aid?
Thereby exacerbating and spreading the PERMANENT environmental damage inflicted on the landscape by the desperate and starving population.
The Green view is a minority view, that simply refuses to countenance democracy, or the majority view?
It's an eco-fascist political tail, I believe, that uses the vagaries of our peculiar, much manipulated preferential voting system, to wag the political dog?
They are on the public record fatuously claiming, that the rigs in Bass Straight would destroy the marine environment, that tourism would replace lost forestry incomes in tiny Tassie, and similarly, tourism would provide bigger better returns for northern Q'ld, than the foregone multi trillion dollar hydrocarbon industry, we might have developed near the reef, if we were but guided by pragmatism instead?
What we need to lock out of OUR forests, are the DICTATORIAL Greens, who seem to believe the wilderness belongs exclusively to them?
Rhrosty.
Posted by Rhrosty, Monday, 27 August 2012 1:34:31 PM
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Look, I've got the answer!

Let's buy second-hand tanks from all over the world and hire them out to tourists who want to visit Parks and pristine beaches.

These tourists don't want horses or mountain bikes. How passe! They want things that can flatten everything that gets in their road while traveling at 30 mph. They want things that can almost climb up a vertical cliff while protecting them from leeches and horse flies.

And keep the guns on the tanks. There's plenty of emus and wallabies and bower birds that need culling.

I tell you, Queensland would be alive with tourists. There are so many people in the world who would love to drive a tank over Queensland, get the feel of real destructive power!
Posted by David G, Monday, 27 August 2012 1:58:59 PM
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Spoken like a true greenie twit David. You must be a public servant in the Dept of Environment, or you have been studying at their feet.

When I wanted to sight a coral viewing "sub" & a pontoon out from the Whitsundays, I ran into equally stupid smart ass comments from some of the bureaucrats.

They effectively said that there was no chance of getting approval from them, just 18 months before that bit became marine park. They appeared to think it funny to tell me to come back then. Of course the company would have been bankrupt by then, & people wonder why we want to see half of these leaches on the dole.

Of course I & other operators did what we had to do, & ignored them

With a turnover of a couple of million, 27 years ago, with about half spent in the area, that bit of the operation probably supplied a living to a dozen or so.

We referred to mainland national parks as vermin farms, which is what they were, full of pigs & lantana. It was only the parks on resort islands, where staff with guns did the eradication that were worth going to.
Posted by Hasbeen, Monday, 27 August 2012 5:42:21 PM
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An excellent post. What would happen we're the onus to be reversed, whereby new developments were both welcomed and deemed to be of benefite to the state.

Those who objected would need to prepare the raft of documentation/evidence, biological surveys etc etc demonstrating the project would have an irreversible destructive impact on the environment.

The example of the Bass Strait oil rigs, as noted by Rhrosty above, provides one of many many examples of unfounded knee jerk green responses and rhetoric.
David. G....... Refer to Hasbeen above... In spades.
Posted by Prompete, Monday, 27 August 2012 7:00:32 PM
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<< Those heady days are remembered for booming Japanese and Asian inbound tourism combined with a strong domestic market. New resorts and attractions were opening up along the coast and also inland. Then it all seemed to stop. What went wrong? >>

Ross, what has stopped is the continuous expansion of this industry. That’s all. It’s still there. Cairns is still crawling with Japanese tourists all winter and spring. Grey nomads are still moving to north Queensland in great numbers. Palm Cove is booming. The caravan parks all around north Queensland are full.

I went on the Kuranda Skyrail cable car recently (from Cairns up the range to Kuranda). It is doing a roaring trade! And Kuranda was packed with tourists.

Likewise with Port Douglas.

The industry has plateaued and perhaps reduced somewhat as people have become used to its offerings and sought out different things elsewhere. There is as you say strong international competition.

This is just what you would have expected, surely. It couldn’t keep expanding, and indeed it would have been very hard-pressed to hold onto its peak numbers. Somewhat of a decline surely had to happen.

But it is stil looking good, as far as I can see.
Posted by Ludwig, Monday, 27 August 2012 10:18:30 PM
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Now, I really am failing to see the connection between significant tourism promotion and mountain-bike trails in national parks.

These, along with horse-riding trails, are hardly the key to reinvigorating tourism, surely!

It might be appropriate here and there. A new mountain-bike trail in Conway National Park might be a good thing. I’m not sure without knowing all the details of it.

But, how many tourists would do something like that?

I mean, we’ve already got copious in walking tracks in national parks, and all the spots of scenic value are accessible, mostly by fairly short walks.

National parks have been pretty fully incorporated into the tourism experience all along.

As for developments in built-up areas, we’d want to be sure that they would be successful businesses and work as major attractants for tourists, and be amenable to the local communities. If not, they shouldn’t proceed.

Ross, I seem to detect a strong bias in your thinking about towards this sort of development as if anything that could possibly help spur tourism should get the go-ahead and that other considerations don’t count for much.

continued
Posted by Ludwig, Tuesday, 28 August 2012 8:31:10 AM
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