New commercial developments slated for National Parks
Tourism minister Fran Bailey launched a policy this week that permits commercial development in National Parks. This includes accomodation, restaurants and other infrastructure to be built in these protected areas. Baily indicated that nature based tourism in Australia is worth more than $20 billion and channelling some of these these funds directly into parks would allow them to be self sufficient. But environment body Gecko believes that over visitation and ground pollution are serious problems for national parks; and they won’t be solved by commercial development. Gecko campaign manager Sheila Davis discussed whether accommodation proposals are any different to the current situation, with campsites and guesthouses in several national parks.