Aussie paradise at risk after being cut off from tourists

A stunning Aussie tourism hot spot remains cut off from visitors after three months, leaving local businesses fearing they may have to shut for good.

The stunning remote tourism hot spot of Cape Tribulation remains cut off from visitors after three months of closures, leaving local businesses fearing they may have to shut for good.

It is estimated about 200 tourism businesses and activities have been affected by the closure of Cape Tribulation Road into the town since December, when more than three metres of rain fell within a week causing landslips.

Due to its remote location, this is the only sealed road in and out of the area.

It finally reopened in late January to residents, service providers and emergency services between specific times, but has remained closed to visitors.

Known affectionately as ‘Cape Trib’, the Far North Queensland paradise is where the Daintree Rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef, making it the only place in the world where two UNESCO World Heritage sites border one another.

Australia’s stunning Cape Tribulation relies on tourism. Picture: Getty

The Douglas Shire Council told news.com.au there were around 40 companies, operating 64 activities, who are members of the Daintree Marketing Cooperative, but it was estimated a further 136 tourism operators have been impacted by the closure.

“Tourism is vital to Cape Tribulation’s economy and the livelihood of its residents,” a council spokesman said.

Frustrated residents, who blame council for the road still being closed, told A Current Affairthey believe council did not do enough work after Cyclone Jasper in December when the weather was clear.

“We used to joke just after Christmas that at least we’ll be open for Easter, well that’s not looking like a reality now,” one resident told the program.

The Noah Range stretch of Cape Tribulation Road, which has been closed for three months after Cyclone Jasper. Picture: Douglas Shire Council

Julian and Jackie, who run Cape Tribulation Camping, said they had cleaned up and were ready for campers but were just waiting for the road to open.

“If we don’t get a date for when the road reopens we will shut our doors, we cannot stay open without tourists. Without a road we have no business,” Jackie said.

She warned if there was not a solution quickly, “there will be no more Cape Tribulation”.

In a heated exchange with A Current Affair host Allison Langdon on Wednesday’s program, Douglas Shire mayor Michael Kerr committed to the road being open to tourists by Easter.

“Just seeing the damage up there and we’re told there’s often no one on site fixing the roads at the moment, if I’m perfectly honest, it’s very hard to believe it is opening before Easter,” Langdon said in the tense seven minute interview.

Allison Langdon grilled the mayor of the area on the road’s reopening. Picture: A Current Affair

“You know we have our staff, the civil engineers we have doing the job up there, as much as we possibly can when it’s safe to do so …” Mr Kerr responded.

Langdon interjected: “So is that a promise? I guess this is what I’m asking. Is it that definitive? Are you promising that road will be open by Easter and will stay open unless there is a massive rain event or something catastrophic happens?”

“The advice that I was given the other day is that is exactly the case,” Mr Kerr said.

“But are you throwing the resources at it as fast as you can? This happened 91 days ago and for the majority of the time our crew was up there no one was even working on these roads,” Langdon claimed.

Mr Kerr said council had allocated all the resources it could to fix the road as fast as they could, but the “dangerous site” meant it had to be done “gently and slowly, unfortunately”.

Douglas Shire mayor Michael Kerr. Picture: A Current Affair

In a statement on Thursday evening, council told news.com.au it plans to open the road to all vehicles during daylight hours in the “coming weeks”.

However, it said “the opening date will be dependent on weather conditions and what impact rainfall has on a significant landslip at Noah Range.”

The access windows to the Noah Range stretch of the road for residents and workers have been between 4.30am and 7.30am and 4.30pm and 7.30pm.

“The windows have allowed crews to work on making the road safe and removing some of the debris from the landslip,” the council spokesman said.

“During this period there have been temporary closures due to large amounts of new debris falling onto the road.”