State Government help fund new master plan for Magnetic Island tourism
A new plan will be hatched to help get the most out of Magnetic Island’s tourism future with a $130,000 investment from the state government.
Townsville
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A NEW plan will be hatched to help get the most out of Magnetic Island’s tourism future with a $130,000 investment from the state government.
Research will get underway to plan the future of North Queensland’s “jewel in the crown”.
Townsville Enterprise will work with the community and Tourism Magnetic Island to develop the blueprint for a long-term tourism strategy.
Townsville MP Scott Stewart said this had been in development for some time.
“We recognise the great tourism opportunities that Magnetic Island brings to us, because we know there’s around 1455 jobs created on the island worth around $169m into the local economy each and every year,” he said.
“Why not make a plan to make sure that we can create those great opportunities, those fantastic experiences for those who travelled from either around Queensland or now right around Australia.”
Townsville Enterprise tourism and events director Lisa Woolfe said Magnetic Island contributed about 30 per cent of the tourism benefit in North Queensland.
“We really do want to have a master plan in place that looks at eco-tourism opportunities and infrastructure opportunities for the island from a community point of view but also a visitor point of view,” Ms Woolfe said.
“We hope to have this plan completed by the fourth quarter of 2022 but that won’t stop us looking at opportunities along the way and working with the community, private investors and government in actually starting to see some benefit into Magnetic Island to make sure that it is the world-class eco-tourism and sustainable experience we all know it can be and that it is.”
Ms Woolfe said there had been “unprecedented demand” for the island in the past two years, with interest expected to grow.
“It is vitally important that as our tourism demand grows that we develop Magnetic Island in a sustainable and eco-friendly way so that we are meeting the needs of the visitor but also not putting a detriment onto the local community.”
Tourism Magnetic Island chairman Richard McArthur said the plan would help the tourism industry recover from the pandemic, but he couldn’t say what would be included in the masterplan yet.
“It gives us the potential to realise the potential of tourism on Magnetic Island,” Mr McArthur said.
“Almost a third of Townsville tourism jobs come in from the island and so the opportunity to really grow that, particularly by aligning to some of the mega trends like eco and sustainable tourism (is) very exciting.”
Bumper tourism season ahead for Maggie
MAGNETIC Island is planning for a bumper Christmas and New Year season, despite worker shortages causing concern for tourism businesses.
Townsville Enterprise tourism and event director Lisa Woolfe said the island had experienced some of the best numbers in the past two years despite the pandemic, with the holiday season expected to be no different.
“We are seeing some really strong forward bookings for Magnetic Island which is really positive as we see the borders reopening,” Ms Woolfe said.
“Obviously Covid-19 is an ongoing concern and no one can (use) a crystal ball to see what is going to happen with that, but we will manage that as it comes.
“What we do know is our operators here in North Queensland have been absolutely incredible at not only abiding by health restrictions.”
Ms Woolfe said Magnetic Island traditionally had strong international and interstate visitation and Covid-19 had stopped that for some time.
“What we have seen and what we are very fortunate to see here in North Queensland is that both locals and our North Queensland residents have really gotten out and supported the whole of our tourism destination here,” she said.
“We have seen unprecedented demand for Magnetic Island … and we really do hope to see that continue, but we want to make sure it can continue in a sustainable way.”
Tourism Magnetic Island chairman Richard McArthur said there had been some staffing and accommodation issues on the island.
“There’s a big shortfall at the moment for us because there has been such a demand on the island,” he said.
“We find that it is a big challenge at the moment in accessing staff. There is a shortage of accommodation firstly and that is why it can get extremely challenging to retain staff for all tourism businesses.
“There is a shortage of the transient market, the backpackers that come through and fill a lot of the seasonal roles within the tourism industry.
“We’re finding that there’s a shortage of rental accommodation on the island because a lot has been converted into long-term holiday letting to match the demand on the island.”
Originally published as State Government help fund new master plan for Magnetic Island tourism
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