Ms BADGER – Minister, you made mentioned before of climate-conscious travellers and of course regenerative tourism and those sorts of opportunities taking off elsewhere around the world. Tasmania has ample opportunity for such things here through birding tourism and tall tree tourism. There are two pretty major proposals or market segments that are coming into the state, being low-impact and high-yielding. Are you across the bikepacking proposal, the Tasmanian traverse, have you been briefed on that? Also, have you been briefed on the southwest Dark Sky Sanctuary proposal?
Ms HOWLETT – I’ve certainly had discussions around dark sky tourism, and I know the CEO of Tourism Tasmania would like to speak to that.
Ms CLARK – Dark sky tourism is a really fast-growing visitor experience here and we’ve got a lot of those experiences around the state, both from our natural environment and also some that tourism operators have created as well. We are promoting Tasmania as a destination where you can experience a beautiful dark sky experience.
Ms BADGER – What about specific to that south-west sanctuary? Also noting you haven’t yet touched on the bikepacking proposal, the Tasmania traverse. Are you across either of those specific proposals?
Ms CLARK – From a dark sky sanctuary perspective, my understanding is it’s quite expensive to create a dark sky sanctuary and to be accredited. Already we are able to offer those sorts of experiences with no additional investment.
Ms BADGER – That’s not quite right. A lot of the initial expenditure, particularly on that south-west proposal, has already been done by volunteers in lieu of the government doing it; acknowledging that it’s not a tourism portfolio, it’s through Parks. Is Tourism Tasmania willing to endorse that, given that Tasmanian community members have gone out night after night to monitor dark skies to do the science to back this proposal up? Proper accreditation would give Tasmania the brand credibility and the accountability that we were properly protecting that night environment, which has incredible cultural significance to the Palawa people. It’s their origin story that’s told down there. Would you back that proposal to give Tasmania’s brand credibility?
Ms CLARK – I definitely commend the advocacy work that’s been done in that area and we would absolutely support promotion of dark‑sky tourism and experience as well. I will leave the accreditation question to Parks and Wildlife.
Ms HOWLETT – It is a question for Parks and Wildlife. There are no plans to quarantine areas as dark‑sky sanctuaries. I recognise that Tasmania’s natural environment is one of our greatest assets and we want to welcome more interstate and overseas visitors to enjoy a unique world‑class tourism experience that is compatible with the values of our natural areas. Our government believes tourism offerings are an excellent way to preserve, protect, and promote greater use and advocacy for these areas.
Through our tourism expressions of interest process, we invite submissions in and/or near our national parks, reserves, and Crown lands. We want to see creative and innovative ideas that help to deliver social, environmental, and economic benefits that were not previously considered possible in Tasmania. Our visitor experiences are, of course, the envy of the world.
