A masterplan for the Beauty Point foreshore has been unveiled to coincide with the arrival of the first cruise ship to the region in five years.
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On Sunday, the French luxury vessel L’Austral and its 260 passengers and 145 crew docked at the Inspection Head Wharf.
The ship’s captain David Marionnuau said it was exciting to bring tourists to new regions.
“It’s a real pleasure to come to places like Beauty Point because we like to go to where [bigger cruise ships] don’t,” he said.
The ship arrived about 7am to a “warm welcome” from locals who enjoyed the first Beauty Point market.
TasPorts has spent about four years and $4 million upgrading the wharf to allow ships to dock.
TasPorts executive general manager, customer and commercial, Steve Clark said it was exciting to have ships back at Beauty Point after the remediation works.
Mr Clark said there had been “tentative” inquiries from other ships wanting to dock at the site.
The West Tamar Council used the event to launch a masterplan for the Beauty Point foreshore.
The masterplan will be implemented over 10 to 15 years and is expected to cost about $4 million.
“The masterplan will actually improve the foreshore and will include a wonderful walkway across the foreshore from Inspection Head through to the main beach at Beauty Point,” mayor Christina Holmdahl said.
“The whole plan is to ensure that people who come here really enjoy this part of Tasmania.”
The goal is to create a tourism precinct at the wharf, with car parking, public amenities, space for a farmers’ market and a picnic and fitness space.
The plan will be a collaboration between Tourism Northern Tasmania, TasPorts and the West Tamar Council.
Councillor Holmdahl said the council did not have the funds to implement the masterplan, but hoped to get the project underway “soon”.
Tourism Industry Council Tasmania chief executive Luke Martin said he hoped cruise ships would continue to dock at Beauty Point in the future.
“It’s a really exciting opportunity to introduce cruise ships into the Tamar [River],” Mr Martin said.
“The fact ships are going there and not the city means [tourists] will get distributed throughout the whole region.
“It’ll be small numbers [of ships], but when they do come in we need to make sure people have a great experience and they’re well managed.”
The full masterplan can be viewed on the West Tamar Council’s website.