Balanced approach to Tasmania’s special places

Tasmania’s peak tourism industry organisation said today the new Draft Management plan for the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA) offered a contemporary and balanced approach to the management and conservation of these areas, in a dramatically more digestible and user-friendly format.

Tourism Industry Council Tasmania CEO, Luke Martin, said the actual substance of the plan indicated that much of the commentary over the past 24-hours from certain conservation groups was meddled in hysteria and hyperbole.

‘Unlike it seems some conservation and media organisations who had advanced copies of the draft plan well before yesterday’s public release, we have only had the past 24 hours to consider it in detail,’ Mr Martin said.

‘From our perspective the plan provides a framework for a contemporary approach to land management of the TWWHA that encourages people to engage in the natural environment.

‘It’s also in a far more practical and reader-friendly format, which anyone familiar with the current complex plan will wholeheartedly welcome.

Mr Martin said essentially the plan offered two major reforms;

• greater capacity for commercial tourism in areas of the TWWHA previously off limits to the industry, and, for the first time, fully embraces the immense cultural significance of the TWWHA to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community.

‘These are both outcomes that we were seeking and support. ‘

‘The draft plan maintains very clear expectations and conditions on what will be considered for new tourism activities within the TWWHA, but unlike the current plan’s blanket ‘don’t touch’ approach, this plan provides the capacity for ideas to be considered and tested.

‘But it’s not ‘anything goes’ – and the criteria for what will be considered appropriate activities in different areas of the TWWHA is robust and clear.

Mr Martin said some of the commentary coming out of the conservation groups was tantamount to scaremongering, and misrepresented what Tasmanian tourism was all about.

‘The name of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area remains the Tasmania Wilderness World Heritage Area.

‘For the name of the zone within the plan to change from ‘wilderness’ to ‘recreation’ in order to better represent the cultural and recreational activity that occurs across this massive land area every day does not diminish the natural values and significance of the whole TWWHA.

‘Nor does it diminish the high conservation values and standards represented in the description of that zone.

‘Frankly, if the name of the zones is at the crux of the conservation groups objection to the whole plan, than they’re either considering the plan in its entirety or simply playing politics.

Mr Martin said he was also bemused by comments suggesting because visitor numbers to the State’s National Parks were now growing, there was no need to encourage further tourism activity in the areas.

‘Frankly I think that argument says more about the conservationists’ real motivation in this debate to restrict the growth of tourism and visitation to our protected areas.

‘Our National Parks and Reserves are the driving attractions for regional tourism across the State, and a balanced management plan that recognises the critical role commercial tourism plays in managing visitation to our parks and reserves is about ensuring our Parks continue to sustain regional tourism in the years to come.

Mr Martin said TICT would be undertaking a consultation process with its operators across the State in formulating a formal response to the draft plan.
Tourism Industry Council Tasmania CEO, Luke Martin