High costs and community worries hold back Torres Strait potential

The Torres Strait is out of reach and unaffordable for most Australians but the pristine reefs and islands could be the Far North’s greatest opportunity to lure visitors, according to tourism leaders.

Speakers Kalair McArthur and James Muir at the Tropical Innovation Festival. Picture: Brendan Radke

The Torres Strait is out of reach and unaffordable for most Australians but the pristine reefs and islands could be the Far North’s greatest opportunity to lure visitors, according to tourism leaders.

Industry delegates and tourism operators gathered at the Tropical Innovation Festival on Thursday afternoon to discuss how North Queensland tourism can propel forward as visitor numbers are just 90 per cent of pre-Covid levels.

Strait Experience co-founder and Masig Island traditional owner, Fraser Nai, who runs multi-day high-end tours in the northern Torres Strait, said the state of indigenous tourism in the region was not good enough.

“Think about all the investment that’s gone in to indigenous, just to Torres Strait for example. In the last 30 years all the talented people in departments, in government, up there in the locals, where we are right now is the sum total of all the investment,” Mr Nai said.

“We can’t run away from that fact and I don’t think we’ve done well.

“We have to do something differently. What we need is just some real folks, let’s get our hands dirty and let’s support this just real pragmatic stuff.”

Tour operator Fraser Nai said more was needed to build the Torres Strait brand and engage travellers. Picture: Lachie Millard

Despite taking up more than 4000 square kilometres of Queensland coast, Torres Strait tourism represents about one per cent of annual visitors to the Far North.

Mr Nai said there had been uptick in recent years but community concerns of becoming an extractive destination had been a roadblock.

“I think fear is one fundamental thing that stops people from changing,” he said.

“Most Torres Strait Islanders come to Cairns and what do they see? Backpackers, so that’s their idea or model of what tourism is.

“When people say no, they’re not saying no because they don’t want tourism, they’re saying no because they don’t want that market.”

Despite being on our doorstep, accessing the Torres Strait is still a major hurdle, with Mr Nai saying, “It’s cheaper to go to Fiji, Bali or just about everywhere else”.

Flights to Horn Island start between $300 and $500 each way and the region’s profile didn’t help.

“You can’t even see an ad on the Torres Strait. Most people in Brisbane don’t even know where Torres Strait is and that’s in Queensland,” he said.

Originally published as High costs and community worries hold back Torres Strait potential