ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY
A selection of these 10 provide useful insights,
particularly into how towns with different backgrounds
have managed to successfully transition to tourism.
One of the more interesting findings (at least with
respect to our study area, Jabiru) was that location
is the key to success. That is, a town is more likely
to be successful if the visitor can walk from their
accommodation to the attraction, or, at least, see it
from their hotel room.
QUEENSTOWN – CREATING A
COMPLEMENTARY TOURISM PRODUCT
Queenstown is 260km north west of Hobart. The
town is reasonably well set up for tourism now. It
includes numerous accommodation options, retail,
supermarkets, banks and dining, and a museum,
golf course, library, hospital, recreation centre, and
post office.
The town was formed in 1886 as part of a regional
gold rush, extending to copper by 1893. By 1901,
it was Tasmania’s third largest town, with 5,051
people, 14 hotels, schools, banks and shops.
Automation, and the volatility of the mining industry
caused the town’s population to fluctuate. By the
1970s the mining workforce was declining, and this
accelerated in the 1990s, driving the population
down by 42% over the quarter century to 2016.
In 2014, the Mt Lyell copper mine was placed into
a care and maintenance position. Since then, the
town has been undergoing an economic transition
to tourism. Fortunately, it enjoys proximity to
Cradle Mountain (itself a beneficiary of a significant
investment in a high-end accommodation facility)
and its own heritage tourism products.
"One of the more interesting
findings (at least with respect to
our study area, Jabiru) was that
location is the key to success.
That is, a town is more likely to
be successful if the visitor can
walk from their accommodation
to the attraction, or, at least, see
it from their hotel room."
Queenstown’s primary disadvantage is that it is
located slightly off the main tourism routes. The
solution has been to create its own differentiated
tourism products that complement that of Cradle
Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park.
Queenstown now includes the Miners’ Siding
sculptures, and a tourist railway. The latter
attracts 140 visitors a day (50,000 p.a.) to the
historic 35km 1890’s rainforest passage between
Queenstown and Strahan. There is also an
underground mine tour, local history museum, a
thriving arts and crafts sector, and the wilderness
to explore by hiking, or via the area’s mountain
bike tracks.
Queenstown’s transition has been facilitated by
a 2014 stimulus package providing support and
catalysing economic diversification into other
areas such as aquaculture. The West Coast
Economic Working Group guided the allocation of
the $31million package across several hard and
soft infrastructure initiatives.
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