A $40,000 study conducted over summer will measure the economic value of nature-based tourism.
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Minister for Environment, Parks and Heritage Peter Gutwein said more than one million people visit a national park in Tasmania every year, with over 300 businesses operating within the park system.
"We have a long-term plan to make Tasmania the eco-tourism capital of the world," he said.
The announcement comes in the midst of the Lake Malbena tourism development approvals process, with the government supporting a private development in the Wilderness World Heritage Area that would be accessed via helicopter. The development is seen by opponents as the beginning of a trend of privatising publicly-owned protected natural areas.
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Wilderness Society campaign manager Tom Allen said he welcomed the study.
"If the government genuinely aspires for Tasmania to be a leader in eco-tourism it needs to put in place a rigorous and world-leading eco-tourism regime, including eco-tourism criteria, metrics, assessment and monitoring, which it currently lacks - this report should help put these in place," he said.
Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania chief executive Luke Martin said Tasmanians had no idea what the concrete value of nature-based tourism was in the state, as it hadn't been measured in 15 years.
"We're really excited about this project, it's something that we've wanted to do for years," he said.
"What we need to do is work out what exactly the sector is worth to the state: how many jobs, how many jobs in regional parts of the state, and how much money they're generating, so we can talk about how we can support that sector and treat it as a real growth, engine room part of the economy.
"Some cynics might say, 'why are you doing it now?' But the fact that we are getting some attention put on us means that we need to be better at explaining the value of this sector, and to be able to demonstrate to Tasmanians that are fair-minded, and are sitting in the middle, that the value of this sector is real, it's tangible, and there are real jobs."
Consulting firm Deloitte Access Economics will conduct the study.