Wilderness Guides Call for Overhaul of Tourism EOI Process

Media release – Tasmanian Wilderness Guides Association, 16 April 2021

WILDERNESS GUIDES FORGE A PATH TO A MORE SUSTAINBLE TOURISM FUTURE

GUIDES PUT FORWARD THEIR ELECTION PLATFORM

As the backbone of Tasmania’s nature tourism industry, the Tasmanian Wilderness Guides Association is calling for an overhaul of the assessment and approval process for tourism developments in national parks and reserves.

The Association has been dismayed by the failure of the Tasmanian Government to share its vision – supposedly articulated in the TWWHA Tourism Master Plan – as to how it will achieve a balance between high quality visitor experiences in the TWWHA and the protection of its values.

Said representative of the Tasmanian Wilderness Guides Association, Kenna Reid Clark, “Whatever happened to the TWWA Tourism Master Plan? We’ve heard nothing since the public consultation on the draft Master Plan closed in June 2020, and yet this Plan was called for by the IUCN/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring Mission back in 2015”.

The Association is asking political parties and independent candidates to support its reform platform to create an assessment and approval process that has the confidence of the public, manages nature tourism proposals professionally and transparently, and places the preservation and protection of national parks at its centre.

In its election platform, the Association is calling for:

1. Respect for Management Plans – All proposed national park tourism developments should conform to relevant management plans.
2. Legislation not evasion – Consideration of replacing the EOI and RAA processes with proper statutory processes and third party appeal rights.
3. Transparency and community consultation – The public’s Right to Know should be front and centre of how public national parks are managed. Public consultation should be mandatory and there should be a requirement for a considered response to this consultation.
4. Independence from vested interests – National park development proposals should be assessed by those with expertise and should not rely on the proponents’ own assessments of their proposals.
5. High standards – Regular auditing and monitoring of commercial tourism operators.
6. Fairness for tourism operators – There should be a review of the way licence and lease fees are calculated for businesses seeking exclusive use or occupation of Crown land.
7. Increased funding for Parks – Investing in PWS can be a way to invest in nature tourism AND special places.