The New Destination Management Plan: Don’t Forget the Residents
A Destination Management Plan (DMP) is, as Cr Lorentson suggests (NT 26 August) an important step in preventing one of Queensland’s prime destinations from becoming the victim of its own success.
The new Destination Management Group (DMG), weighted as it is towards industry representatives, is missing representatives from coast and hinterland resident groups. The invitation to the 26 remaining candidates to form an extra reference group broadens the community voices, and is welcome, however. having such a large reference group in the previous council, proved unwieldy when it came to reaching an accord.
In fact, the group met for 18 months and disbanded before the last elections without any resolutions presented.
Then, of course, Covid-19 came along, and the tourism scene changed markedly.
Since the DMG is tasked with coming up with a best-practice sustainable destination plan, it must first define sustainable tourism, a definition that will avert the inevitable visitor crush that will overwhelm our unique shire in the run-up to Brisbane 2032 and beyond. This plan must build on extensive work by community groups and past councils in protecting and enhancing our natural and built environments. It also must:
• Respect First Nations’ cultures.
• Provide socio-economic benefits to all shire residents.
• Ensure our suburbs retain sufficient residential viability to support working people.
• Allow visitors to feel included in the shire’s environmental ethos.
• Plan for an industry that leaves a positive legacy for future generations of shire residents.
• Is affordable given the economic base of our small shire.
An overall strategy and roadmap for tourism, based on sustainability, means setting acceptable limits on visitation through levers that we can control and ones which align with our local economic plan and our strategies for the environment and transport, and the Noosa Plan.
Cost recovery in the form of parking fees and other congestion taxes may be necessary, but these should not be a means to an end.
While it may be flattering to have top-dollar, iconic tourism infrastructure projects like the boardwalk, upgraded Noosa Country Drive, Noosa Parade revamp, and the hinterland playground, we should note that this was a huge spend of around $30m.
We residents cannot expect to continue funding both tourism marketing along with iconic tourism infrastructure projects. The argument that residents also benefit from these projects wears thin when you’re sitting in traffic and our roads are clogged with visitors enjoying our largesse. We need to be sure everyone, from local young families to retirees, feel they are well catered for.
Primarily, it’s not just about ensuring Noosa’s visitor reputation is kept intact. It’s about remembering we’re not just a tourist town, we are, as Cr Lorentson reiterates, a “residential town”.
While setting up the new DMP, I hope members of the group will understand that the best way to protect the Noosa Brand is to look after and nurture our residents.
