Bruny Island community groups have voted to withdraw from the state government’s tourism planning process, saying the state government is not adequately supporting the Island in dealing with a massive tourism increase.
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The state government said they had been working with the Bruny communities to cope with growing visitor numbers.
The community groups cited a 75 per cent increase in visitor numbers over the past two years, and said lack of infrastructure, and a reliance on volunteer labour, meant the state government was not taking capacity problems seriously.
In a joint statement the Bruny Island Community Association (BICA) and the Bruny Island Environment Network (BIEN) said they had participated in the planning process for a Destination Action Plan in the hope that “capacity issues would be addressed as a high priority”.
BIEN convenor Bob Graham said infrastructure was a priority, but more important was matching tourism activity with the Island’s capacity.
“Infrastructure is costly and often takes a long time to be provided,” he said.
“There are many simple and low cost things that can be done to increase capacity, but these are not on the agenda of the implementation group.”
BICA President Fran Davis said the organisations were not opposed to tourism but without increased capacity support, “community opposition will grow”.
A state government spokesperson said the state government’s Destination Action Plan for Bruny had actively included Bruny community groups and was “a successful process”.
“We recognise that there are other longer term infrastructure needs and we are committed to working with local community, industry and local government on how these can be met,” a spokesperson said.