The Global Eco 2011 Conference is on in Sydney from November 7 – 10.
I’m delighted to be presenting a paper again, this year on the theme: “Tourism a Strategic Partnership for Protected Areas”.
Ecotourism is a vital contributor to sustainable tourism; provides a unique competitive edge for properties, operations and destinations; and has significantly greater yield potential than other tourism sectors. Seize the potential!
Global Eco 2011 will equip you to seize the potential of ecotourism for your enterprise – whether you are an operator, a destination manager, a government planner, policy maker or industry advisor. Global Eco 2011 holds the keys to seizing the potential of ecotourism and turning it into tangible, sustainable business gains.
Tourism a Strategic Partnership for Protected Areas (Wednesday 9 November):
Seizing the potential of strategic partnerships in delivering tourism in protected areas is vital. Stakeholders form partnerships in order to maximise the potential of a project and to benefit from the collective strengths that partners bring to the relationship. Not all of the interests align and the key is to form partnerships that seize the potential whilst being true to the primary objectives of all stakeholders involved. What are the successful formulas, how do partnerships evolve, what are the essential safeguards, what are the business benefits? Industry professionals responsible for creating successful partnerships will give an expert insight into the strategies for establishing, managing, succeeding and ensuring the longevity of collaborations in tourism.
My presentation is entitled:
Noosa North Shore Eco-tourism Portal: Looking back – looking forward
Over the next few weeks I will be highlighting some of the exciting features of this visionary project and sharing some ideas for development in or near sensitive environments (or even sensitively in any environment!).
2005 site inspections - over 1000 trees surveyed
Introduction
In 2005 the Noosa North Shore Eco-tourism Portal aspired to be an exemplar of world’s best practice “developed as a centre of environmental wilderness excellence, respecting while celebrating the southern entrance to the Great Sandy Region”.
Project aims included assisting with the protection of Noosa’s North Shore natural attributes, its character and its open space roles by absorbing some of the impacts that would otherwise place pressure on the Great Sandy National Park and other fragile areas of wilderness north of the Noosa River.
The project as a concept cannot be said to have failed – it never had the chance to fail, rather the financing of the development failed as a direct consequence of the 2008 global financial crisis. Given that the project did not reach completion there is only limited operational data to analyse. Nevertheless there are a number of significant achievements that can surely be counted as successes. There are also a number of difficulties that were yet to be resolved at the suspension of the project.
This paper presents some key aspects, positive and negative, of the project that will hopefully stimulate further understanding of one approach to development in or near protected areas, which is the theme of this 2011 conference stream.
Background
The Noosa River has long been upheld as a natural limit to urban development at the northern end of the Sunshine Coast. North of the river lies the World Heritage listed Great Sandy Region extending to Fraser Island. The region has historically been subject to forestry and sand mining operations, but is also in the heartland of The Noosa Parks Association, arguably one of the most successful community conservation organisations in Queensland.
The Noosa Parks Association lists of achievements includes:
- Formation of a visionary Town Plan, during the 1980’s and early 1990’s – thus minimising excessive development such as high-rise, traffic lights and advertising signage;
- Cessation of sand mining and logging on Noosa North Shore with subsequent formation of Cooloola section of Great Sandy National Park;
- Massive tracts of land south of the river now locked up in National Park or Forest reserve, including Tewantin National Park, Girraween Nature refuge, and the continuation of Noosa National Park all the way from the headland section south to Coolum;
- Prevention of massive Titanium development application at Kin-Kin;
- State and federal government support for the Cooloola section of Great Sandy National Park World Heritage listing application;
Noosa’s ongoing commitment to managing development while protecting the natural environment has been recognised by UNESCO, which in September 2007 declared the Noosa local government area a Biosphere Reserve.
In this context it is a rare developer who will commit to pursuing an entirely private-sector development project on a freehold parcel of land in a region with a forty year and twenty-five million dollar history of successfully fighting development applications.
Earlier failed and/or abandoned proposals included golf resorts, canal developments, high-rise towers and even an international airport. Nevertheless, Petrac a relatively inexperienced boutique real-estate developer began to negotiate to purchase a 20-hectare parcel of freehold land with a run-down and barely viable ‘resort’ in 2003.
Petrac director Peter McAvoy maintains that his decision to pursue the project was as much driven by a desire to ‘do the right thing’ as it was to generate a return on investors’ funds. He saw these goals as being intrinsically linked. As did a number of high net-worth individuals who directly or through their diverse business interests had a founding stake in the project. It was only later in the process, when development approvals were in place, did more traditional bank and mezzanine financiers commit to the project.
More to follow – check back again in a few weeks.
