For all the reservations that many grey nomads have about the trend towards development in national parks, it seems the public are voting with their feet and their entry passes.
The newly opened Three Capes Track in Tasmania is a case in point. The island state’s latest eco-tourism venture has resulted in a massive surge in visitor numbers. Parks and Wildlife originally hoped to get 6000 walkers in the first year to break even but already some 12,000 people had walked, or are booked to walk, the track.
And State Growth Minister, Matthew Groom, says the good news for Tassie’s national parks certainly doesn’t stop there. In fact, there have been a record 1.18 million park visitors from interstate and overseas for the 12 months to March this year.
The Tasmanian Mercury reports that visitors to Freycinet increased 16% to a record 272,000. Mt Field has experienced a 28% increase to a record 189,000 visitors. And Cradle Mountain saw 228,000 visitors, a rise of 15%. Visitation also rose 17% at Hastings Caves, and 16% at Tasman Arch and the Overland Track.
Mr Groom said the State Government’s plan to make national parks “more accessible and user-friendly to locals and visitors … is paying off”.
Tourism Industry Council Tasmania chief executive, Luke Martin, told the Mercury that the figures highlighted the critical importance of national-park regional destinations, and he called for a re-evaluation of investment in national parks because they were “critical economic and cultural assets that underpin our identity and a $2 billion tourism industry”.
Wilderness Society Tasmanian campaign manager Vica Bayley agreed, saying the figures showed national parks were “icons that attract visitors”.
But he said popular parks such as Freycinet and Cradle Mountain were struggling to cope with the boom in visitors, and he identified a need for more national parks. He said the figures reinforced the case for a Tarkine national park in the North-West “to share the visitors and benefits they deliver”.
