A retired Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife ranger has joined the growing number of voices calling for action to prevent overtourism spoiling the very things that makes a trip around the Apple Isle so magical.
And Ian Marmion, who spent 42 years with Tasmania’s Parks and Wildlife Service, says urgent action is needed to safeguard the state’s iconic wilderness areas, with overcrowding threatening to ruin the state’s most precious places. Following a seven-week trip to the US and Canada to study how national parks there manage their high visitation number, he says there is a lot that could be learnt.
Mr Marmion told the Daily Mercury that there were stark contrasts in funding, planning, and resources between many of the parks in North America and those of Tasmania.
Good luck finding an empty boardwalk lin a popular Tassie national park this summer. PIC: Leigh Williams / Pexels
“Something we need to work towards is having agreed visitation levels for different areas to ensure minimal impact on the environment, animals, and plants,” he said. “But we also need to consider the social side — how people want to feel when they visit our parks … protecting the peacefulness of that experience is really important.”
Mr Marmion told the newspaper that implementing policies such as capping visitation to sensitive areas could be a good idea. And he also suggested conducting a statewide survey to identify ecosystems and sites requiring the highest levels of protection, including fragile Aboriginal and historical sites where damage or ‘souvenir-taking’ is a concern.
He told the Mercury that other strategies that could be implemented include incorporating one-way flows of vehicle and pedestrian traffic, and temporary or permanent closures of some parks or areas of parks to allow rehabilitation.
“Some areas may need to be completely off-limits to tourism,” Mr Marmion said. “It’s vital we establish a baseline to identify which areas, animals, rare plants, and breeding sites need the strongest protections.”
While anxious about the potential impact of too many visitors, Mr Marmion acknowledged the critical role that tourism played in Tasmania’s economy, and he emphasised the importance of balancing growth with preservation.
“As long as it is controlled and we’re not, you know, killing the goose that laid the golden egg, then I am a supporter of tourism,” he told the Mercury. “I think most Parks staff want to share these amazing places.”
And, critically, Mr Marmion said he hoped more extreme control measures – such as tourist ballots or permits to enter parks or climb mountains, timed, staggered entry for vehicles to enter a National Park, and restrictions on how long you can stay in a Park – wouldn’t have to be implemented in Tasmania.
The latest Tasmanian Visitor Survey revealed 1,301,600 visitors to the state in the year to June, contributing $3.478 billion to the economy.
Last month, Veteran traveller and Tassie local, Greg Lowe, told the Grey Nomads website that the sheer number of visitors was changing the nature of travel in the state.
“Locals in Tassie once used to wait until the end of January to go bush to visit our favourite off-grid haunts,” he said. “Nowadays, that timeframe has lagged out to the end of March.”
Mr Lowe says that going anywhere near a half-reasonable spot in peak holiday periods is now basically a no-no.
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Such a typical attitude from an ex National parks employee — lock people out and place further restrictions on them. As our population grows we need to be opening up areas not closing them. Yes, they need to be properly managed and the small number of idiots doing the wrong thing penalised rather than just penalising everyone.
Spot on. They have closed so many access points and camp sites that people have few options other than cram into the few open access like cattle in a stock yard. Totally a parks enforced problem.
I totally agree with you.
Dan your right
There already is booking for The Overland Track & The 3 Capes Walk.
Just did the 3 Capes. Well organised, trails and steps. Didn’t seem over crowded
Heya,
We only get one go around ,of this world .All the absolutely beautiful places that are out there.So surely we would want to respect what Mother Earth has given us to experience and enjoy.
But it’s not ours , so let’s do the best we can to pay forward so other generations also get the wonders of our beautiful country.
Be safe enjoy.All of us are so lucky to call it home .thankyou.
National parks are the biggest problem of our natural bushland.
They limited camping, parking. Closed our bush, it’s our bush not theirs!
They stopped hazard reduction burns and that created massive catastrophe fires.
I spend a lot of time in the bush, and national parks are nothing but a corporation wanting more and more money!
Funny thing is I have seen reserves closed to the public later to find out the land is being mined!
Defund national parks!
Perhaps Tassie needs to look at how the locals Ghost campsites to stop travellers from staying in National Parks
I’ve stopped going to Cradle Mountain. You can’t walk very far before needing to stop to pass people. It’s more crowded than many town centres. Too much litter there too. It’s lost its charm. That’s sad because I used to call it my playground.
I’m sure the numbers visiting in the US with a population of 350 odd million people compared to Australia and it 25 million. If they have 10 times the population it stands to reason they would have 10 times the visitors. If they canndo it. Maybe less fear mongering and better managing is the secret. Sounds like he got a really good junket holiday, and doesn’t want to share.
No they are national parks for everyone who wants to go
I’ve lived in Tasmania all my life My first trip to cradle Mountain was in 1972 what a magic place The first hike across the overlander was in 1979 Them days a ranger would check your gear before leaving The trackers huts were for emergencies only A person then was a responsible walker Them days no flies Now it’s all for profit Greed Now I wouldn’t go there if you paid me Why not close it Your closing beaches I once swam in as a child It’s all about control
Utter nonsense. These parks are huge. Just open up more walking tracks and you’ll have plenty of space to appreciate the natural beauty. Since when are people the problem? It’s petty control-freak bureaucrats who are the problem. They always want to tell everyone else what not to do
Aren’t all national parks ultimately funded by the taxpayer?! The very same taxpayer they want to lock out & given the failing economy of some states I am astounded they don’t want tourists to spend money.
Spot on Andrew. Perhaps Tasmania should have its GST funding reduced since they don’t seem to want the tourist dollar.
Yes.. I thoroughly agree with the above that popular tourist sites including National Parks and Free Camping areas need to be controlled and visitor numbers capped to prevent over use!