The owner of a Tasmanian caravan park says the state needs to be prepared for an influx of tourists when the delayed Spirit of Tasmania ferries arrive.
Rowan Carter from the Huon Valley Caravan Park said that while the new ferries are “a little bit late”, he hopes they won’t be held up much longer.
“It’s something that our business and all caravan parks and tourism desperately need … [we’re] really looking forward to it,” he said.
“I did see they did a test float the other day and so hopefully they’ll be ready to go for this season.”
However, Carter said Tasmania may not be ready for the influx of caravans and vehicles that will come with the new ferries.
Both of the new vessels will have a capacity of 1,800 passengers, an increase of 28.6%, and 4,098 metres of vehicle lanes, an increase of 59.8%.
“[Tourists] come, they’re self-contained and they go into self-contained sites, but unfortunately not everybody, most, but not everybody does the right thing,” Carter said.
“They go into the bushes and they go to the toilet and they dump their rubbish.”
He said national parks and tourist hotspots are particularly in need of more infrastructure, including dump points for caravans and effective rubbish removal for others.
“Can you imagine up the east coast, Bay of Fires and all the caravans that are going to be going there going five, six metres into the bushes digging a hole with a shovel? It’s not going to be pretty.”
Minister Eric Abetz said the impending boost to tourism “will encourage private investment” in caravan parks, facilities and restaurants.
He acknowledged that dumping was a “matter of concern”.
“It is ultimately or initially a local government issue but we as a state government of course would seek to cooperate to ensure that our countryside is kept as tidy and neat as possible because that is part and parcel of the tourism experience,” he said.
Labor leader Dean Winter said the caravan park is one of many that will soon receive an “enormous benefit” from the increase in people coming to Tasmania.
“Unfortunately, though, the project is now five years delayed and $500 million over budget at least and that means more delays,” he said.
“Businesses like this [are] not going to get that influx of tourists that they really want to see [until then].”
