Letter pleads for PM Kakadu intervention

The Northern Territory tourism sector has taken the unprecedented move in writing an open letter to the Prime Minister seeking his immediate intervention to resolve ongoing uncertainty for tourism in regard to Kakadu National Park.

Tsuyoshi Saikachi with his wife Hitomi Saikachi and their children Yuki, 12, and Minori, 7, at Ubirr in Kakadu National Park.

THE Northern Territory tourism sector has taken the unprecedented move in writing an open letter to the Prime Minister pleading for his immediate intervention to resolve ongoing uncertainty for tourism in regard to Kakadu National Park.

The peak body representing Top End tourism says with less than eight weeks from the start of the region’s high season, tourism operators are still unable to advise travel agents around the world if or when key experiences in Kakadu will be open.

Tourism Top End general manager Glen Hingley said the situation was critical.

“This is a crisis for our operators,” Mr Hingley said.

In his letter to the Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Mr Hingley has pointed to industry fears that at least six major sites in Kakadu will not be open this tourist season which would have catastrophic business results.

“Tourism operators have invested significantly in developing their businesses aligned with and including Kakadu National Park over many years.,” the letter says.

“Despite the best efforts by the tourism industry to get the region back to its rightful place as a leading Australian travel destination, many parts of Kakadu remain effectively closed.

“All-important sellers of travel to Kakadu now have little to offer or any confidence in its future. We must be able to work towards assuring visitors they can actually sustainably access Kakadu. And that sustainably access actually means being open.”

Mr Hingley says international travel agents have now all but withdrawn Kakadu National Park from holiday brochures.

He said they cannot be sure if the renown iconic experiences will be open.

“They are turning to alternative destinations because Kakadu is so unreliable and uncertain,” he has told the Prime Minister.

“The Top End’s tourism industry understands well the climatic unpredictability of the tropics yet it is still unable to advise travel sellers globally when or if Kakadu’s leading sites will be open.

“Another year of closures means another year too late with hundreds of jobs lost and businesses closing.

“At a Kakadu Forum in Canberra in September 2019 Parks Australia announced it would ensure six sites open for six months. Tourism wrongly presumed this meant open in 2020.

“Now just eight weeks before the traditional high-season we’re in the dark as to what if anything around the opening up of these sites will take place.”

The letter also refers to the bipartisan commitments before last year’s election for a $216 million capital spend for Kakadu.

“The industry still waits as the masterplan process is delayed again,” he said.