Taking visitors beyond the carpark and lookout into the stunning Freycinet National Park is in Tasmania's interest, developer says.
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Freycinet Experience Walk provides access to the area through private tours and camps, and the company's director Michael Masterman said this was a way everyone could gain access to more of the national park.
"This is a way in which they can touch the ground lightly," Mr Masterman said.
The eco-tourism company is seeking to mix-up their offerings by reinstating a standing camp at Cooks Corner and Bluestone Bay. The application before the Glamorgan-Spring Bay Council has faced criticism.
The Tasmanian Greens have raised the issue of privatisation of national parks, while a petition shows community concern over access to a public campground.
Mr Masterman said overall, the conversation of private accommodation in national parks was "a healthy debate for Tasmania to have".
However, he said Freycinet Walking Experience had a contract and had gone through "very, very rigorous" compliance processes.
"I'd argue that we have by far and away the best environmental and compliance and integrity track record in Australia," he said.
"From our point of view, we're viewed as having the gold standard in terms of environmental and compliance and standing camps."
The public campground at Cooks Corner, Mr Masterman said was "nowhere near" the site of the tents they're proposing to resurrect between November to April under their licence.
Not the first time winning over critics
Mr Masterman's mother, Joan Masterman, and her business partner Ken Latona have been in the eco-tourism business since the 1980s.
Starting with private huts in the Cradle Mountain Lake Sinclair National Park, Mr Masterman said tourism in Tasmania had been in a totally different place.
"The main reason people came to Tasmania was convict tourism and for apples," he said.
Having won over critics for that development, he said the business partners purchased a small block of land on the Freycinet Peninsular and built the award-winning Friendly Beaches Lodge.
An integrated operation of the Lodge and camps at Cooks Corner and Bluestone Bay had previously ran for 10 years before bad storms in the offseason in 2004 opened the door to experiment with Lodge-based walks, Mr Masterman said.
He said they had been working since 2019 to get the approvals to reinstate six tents.
"Joan Masterman and Ken Latona have absolutely been the pioneers of ecotourism in Tasmania and also more widely in Australia," Mr Masterman said.
"We think the reinstatement of the camps is a really positive development."
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