Noosa’s Destination Management Plan has been a long time coming. Noosa has collectively held its breath, wondering if our Council would finally acquire the courage to join with the community in taking charge of what it really means to be a major tourist destination.
Would we finally end the days of our Council outsourcing this giant responsibility to an industry intent on looking after itself, rather than our lifestyle and environment?
This week the DMP emerged from the bowels of our Council with a slight whiff of damp squib about it. The Noosa community has been loudly and consistently demanding “transformational” change, but what we got fell something short of that.
The draft DMP itself conceded that “Many in the community feel that the balance has tipped, and that the benefits of tourism are no longer being shared in ways that feel fair or sustainable”.
The sounded promising, so we read on…looking eagerly for these big changes and bold leadership.
Does this document – some two years in the making – offer, as it claims – “an opportunity to reset the balance” and does it focus “on listening to the community, learning from global best practice, and leading with care.”?
You judge for yourself by reading it. Our own Noosa Matters brains trust is underwhelmed. As if to reinforce the point, the Council’s own Media Release was also replete with motherhood statements, but devoid of a single concrete idea or innovation that it could proudly announce and sell. All tip and no iceberg – as Paul Keating once said.
There are some promising hints in the DMP document. There’s a desperately needed emphasis on the need to place the Noosa Community back in the driver’s seat, although rectifying the power imbalance with the industry lobby seems to be beyond this plan’s reach.
The Council tells us something like 70 percent of the initiatives in the plan are already underway in some form. Many others could best be described as ‘aspirational’, requiring genuine leadership from our elected Council. Others face the roadblock of cooperation with a disinterested State Government.
A few of the DMP headlines
Neighbourhoods. There’s talk of more tinkering around the edges of the wave of Short Term Accommodation that’s hollowed out our neighbourhoods, including strengthening planning rules, local laws and compliance. Also, incentivising investors to opt out of Short Stay and put homes back into the long term rental market…in other words -more of what’s already underway. And “advocate to the State Government for a state-wide register of STA properties and seek legislative changes in relation to STA use rights and capping STA numbers in residential zones. It’s clear, though, that the State has no interest in intervening in this issue and upsetting property investors.
Traffic Congestion. The plan supports paid parking in high demand areas (with free or low-cost parking for residents and workers) The bulk of it, though, relies on improvements to public transport…largely out of the Council’s hands and unlikely to get day visitors out of their cars.
Noosa Tourism. There’s talk of developing a new events strategy that better reflects community values, with limits on the number, scale and disruption of events.
Also working with the State Government to manage congestion in our most iconic and sensitive locations – like Noosa North Shire, Noosa River, Cooloola Recreation area, Teewah Beach and Noosa Heads National Park. Once again this will require a State Government that’s motivated to do its part, and there’s been little sign of that.
The plan advocates a range of user-pays models to help fund Tourism Noosa, including cash from paid parking, a congestion charge for visitors entering high-traffic areas and a visitor levy on overnight stays (which, again, can only be done with State Government approval)
However, it shies away from the much criticised Council funding of Tourism Noosa, suggesting yet another “Review … to ensure its purpose, model and funding are aligned to achieve the outcomes of the Destination Management Plan. Don’t expect this ‘review’ to end in our lifetimes.
And finally, a Destination Stewardship Council is proposed, with membership from local indigenous leadership, State and Federal representatives, key local community and industry groups and individuals. The cynical view is that this is a kind of ‘too-hard basket’ to dump the difficult ideas that require broad, high-level and unlikely political consensus.
Why raising taxes and revenue will not reduce congestion.
As the old saying goes – to a man with a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
In the groupthink of a Noosa Council that’s normalised its total rate increases in recent years well above inflation, tackling problems by collecting more money must feel like a natural response. But does it work? Well, real world experience tells us it doesn’t.
Just ask the people of London – where, 22 years after the introduction of their congestion tax, it is once again the most congested city in Europe.
Do tourist taxes actually reduce tourist numbers? Well, no. There’s no doubt they raise revenue for local governments, but there is no evidence they curb overtourism. For instance, Amsterdam has the highest nightly tourist tax in Europe – 12.5% of nightly accommodation rates – and while the revenue helps mitigate the effects of tourism, it doesn’t reduce the numbers. As one expert puts it; “The City of Amsterdam has since changed its reasoning for the tax from tackling overtourism to raising funds”
These revenue raising measures – while filling Council coffers – can actually make congestion worse through what’s known as ‘induced demand’. Drivers, for instance, can be more likely to be attracted to paid parking zones thinking there’s bound to be more room for them. Here at Noosa Matters, former mayor Tony Wellington has been arguing for a permit system that would actually, measurably reduce congestion, rather than simply putting a price on it. This is the kind of well-thought out, transformational idea that is lacking in the DMP.
The self-limiting world of Noosa Council politics
We cannot blame staff for the DMP’s limitations. It’s a self-limiting circle that can only be broken by genuine Councillor leadership and an elected Council that’s pulling together.
Can we encourage the council to be bolder, more ambitious, more ‘transformative’…less reliant on inefficient levers like revenue-raising?
Noosa has until September 14th to have its say on the DMP and to encourage real ambition on this issue. It’s not too late to tell our Councillors what you think is needed to protect our environment and lifestyle against the overtourism and day-tripper juggernaut.
