Parks visitation growing under Liberal Government

Visitation to our National Parks and reserves soared over the last 12 months as the Hodgman Liberal Government’s push to make Tasmania the environmental tourism capital of the world gains momentum.

The last year has seen a consistent pattern of increase in visitor numbers to Tasmania’s National Parks of between five and 30 per cent. These include visitation rises of:

• 29% at Mount Field National Park;
• 21% at Maria Island;
• 17% at Freycinet National Park; and
• 13% at Cradle Mountain.

In January alone, the increase in the number of visitors to parks has resulted in a jump in revenue from the sale of parks passes from $412,000 last year to $1.2 million this year.

This is great news for our Parks with the Government reinvesting the revenue from the sale of parks passes into the Parks and Wildlife Service to support the delivery of visitor facilities and services in our parks.

This means more than $1 million for maintenance of the Overland Track, as well as funding for maintenance of roads, tracks, bridges, picnic facilities and toilets across our Parks, as well as contributing significantly to specific projects like the Discovery Ranger program, Maria Island jetty refurbishment, Cradle Mountain and Lake St Clair sewage treatment plant operational costs, and the Aboriginal Trainee Ranger Program.

To make visiting our National Parks even easier, the Government has recently introduced the ability to purchase national parks passes online.

This has made a significant contribution to the recent rise in visitation, with PWS issuing over 3,000 passes online since last November. Almost half of these sales have been to interstate visitors, demonstrating the increasing demand from tourists to have services delivered online.

The Liberal Government recognises the importance of managing our parks and reserves in a way that is genuinely respectful of their cultural and natural values. We also recognise that these areas are one of our greatest assets and they should be celebrated, enjoyed and shared with the world.

That’s why we sought Expressions of Interest for sensitive and appropriate tourism offerings in our National Parks and World Heritage Area. The fact that the tourism industry has put forward 25 proposals which, if approved, have the potential to deliver additional direct investment in the order of $75 million and over 300 direct jobs indicates the level of demand from people around the world to see and experience our wilderness areas.

We have a target of growing our tourism industry to 1.5 million visitors per year by 2020, and increasing opportunities for visitors to experience and enjoy our National Parks will help to achieve this.
Matthew Groom, Minister for Environment, Parks and Heritage