Zipline tourist numbers same as Uluru, Skyrail
One person will need to take the Mt Coot-tha zipline every six minutes, 365 days a year, if patronage predictions are to come true. That’s roughly the same as numbers seen at Uluru in its peak period.
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ONE person will need to take the Mt Coot-tha zipline every six minutes, 12 hours a day, 365 days a year, if bold patronage predictions are to come true.
Brisbane City Council projects that 350,000 people a year will use its proposed attraction, more than the estimated 250,000 at the world-famous Cairns Skyrail in 2005 and the same as Uluru (Ayers Rock) at its peak, also in 2005.
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Nearly 1000 people per day, or about one every six minutes, will need to take the six-abreast “megazip’’ even though they must stop halfway down.
Tourism expert Dr Richard Bramley, who has studied revenue and patronage projections for a dozen government-backed projects, doubted the numbers.
“I struggle to think how they can achieve this projection of 350,000,’’ he said.
“None of the projects I’ve looked at have had increasing numbers, but council assumes there will be five per cent a year growth.’’
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“The argument governments put forward is that an attraction will bring more people to the area, and that is often what happens when they first open, but it soon settles back to normal visitation patterns.
“Even attractions like Movie World and SeaWorld depend a lot on repeat visits, which is why they offer such attractively-priced season passes.’’
He did the patronage projections for Expo 88, which turned out to be twice his estimate, but said the extra numbers were due to repeat visitors, with season pass holders attending multiple times.
Council did not answer any of the seven questions put to it about its assumptions (see the questions, below).
Instead, Parks chairman David McLachlan said “millions of people visited Brisbane every year and the Mt Coot-tha Zipline is part of a long-term vision to create more to see and do’’.
“Brisbane is emerging as Australia’s New World City, with $26.5 billion worth of infrastructure, lifestyle, tourism and entertainment projects expected to be completed over the next decade,” Cr McLachlan said.
“The Mt Coot-tha Zipline will be the most accessible zipline in Australia, providing more to see and do for Brisbane’s close to eight million annual tourists.
“Brisbane City Council engaged expert advice to inform projected patronage for the Mt Coot-tha Zipline, which is expected to boost Brisbane’s economy by $230 million over 30 years.”
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In 2016, Brisbane welcomed 1.159 million international visitors, so either one in every three would have to visit the zipline, or local residents would need to visit in large number to meet the 350,000 projection.
Dr Bramley, who has also studied the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame, the Waltzing Matilda Centre and Great Barrier Reef Wonderland, said all those three attractions relied on government cash injections to survive.
He was surprised council’s development application did not analyse other ziplines, such as at Mount Tamborine and in New Zealand, and did not mention estimated ticket costs.
He said council’s estimate of $2.8 million a year (initial) operating costs, rising to $9.5 million (2031), meant visitation needed to be high.
However, much more centrally located attractions such as the Gondwanaland rainforest sanctuary at South Bank and the Brisbane Explorer tourist buses had not been able to recoup much lower operating costs.
He said a gondola that was to have run during Expo 88, from Expo to the CBD, never got up because it was feared not enough people would use it.
“I would suggest if Brisbane can’t even support a (tourist bus) then it can’t support a zipline.’’
By the numbers
Annual visitors to some top tourism attractions
• Uluru 270,000 (2014)
• Skyrail (approx) 350,000
• Dreamworld 1.658m (2017-2018)
• Australia Zoo (approx) 700,000
• Brisbane international visitors 1.159m (2016)
The Courier-Mail/Westside News’ questions to Council:
1. Where has the 350,000 annual patronage been derived from? This is equivalent to the peak
year visitation to the World Heritage listed Uluru/Ayers Rock in the early 2000s and is more
than annual patronage of the Cairns Skyrail.
2. The cost benefit analysis says 40% of the patronage (140,000) will be ‘induced’, i.e. in
addition to the 700,00 people who currently visit Mt Coot-tha. This infers that 210,000, or
30%, of current visitors will use some component of the zipline operation. How realistic is
this considering the bulk of customers will likely be from the Brisbane area?
3. What percentage of the 350,000 will actually ride the zipline? Does this number include people who will merely stand on the launch platform for a look, and/or people who will walk across the suspension bridge.
4. How many riders can the zipline carry?
5. What is the total possible annual capacity? Assuming the six megazip lines have a turnaround time of about six minutes, or 10 round trips per hour per zipline, amounting to 60 riders per hour, and assuming a 12 hour operating day, the daily capacity of the zip line is 720. If it operates seven days a week, 365 days a year, that works out to a maximum annual capacity of the zip line of 262,800, compared with the projected 350,000.
6. Has council compared its patronage projections with other operating ziplines? (eg Sydney
TreeTop Safari, which has Sydney CBD and harbour bridge views).
7. How many repeat visits do the patronage numbers assume? Given a sizeable percentage of users are likely to be from the Brisbane area, how often does council assume an average Brisbane resident will want to use the zipline?
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