JUNGLE DRUM: It's time for tangible benefits from road closures

LAWRENCE MASON COLUMN

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Lawrence Mason says its his view that if we are to have these events closing roads and costing businesses money, and residents time, they should be required to donate to marketing of the region.

I used to be a supporter of Ironman. At first, seeing my cafe full of cycling types, I assumed that while the road was closed for a day, it would be offset by increased trade around the event. That lasted for about two years.

Perhaps because the same people tend to race, the visitation to places like Cape Tribulation waned and now all we see is a day when we lose most of our income, with no spike before or after the race. All it creates is annoyance, and people with accommodation have to deal with enquiries around access for a couple of weeks.

Then if I do bother to watch the end of the race on the telly, there is no mention at all of Port Douglas, let alone the beleaguered impacted communities to the north. We are told of course that worldwide millions watch every inch of the race, but I am yet to meet anyone who even knows of it, unless they have a flight to catch on the day. They are the ones who hate it.

The talk of "value adds" and such is in my view a big bag of nonsense. I don't see any tangible marketing or promotion that results from these cycling events. Happy to be proven wrong by figures that show tangible benefit. Not interested in made up lalaland fluff.

The Grand Fondo at least made noises about supporting the regions. There was talk from Bade Stapleton about events in Daintree but despite repeated contact nothing eventuated. Only a few links added to their website. It is all just too easy, close the highway and ignore the areas to the north. And we are getting more annoyed every year.

Cycling events in other locations have minor events shared around but up here it is just "shut the road and bugger everyone else". We have only one secondary route and it adds so much time that it means the day's trade is mostly lost.

Given the existing holdups on the road due to Cyclone Jasper and the snail's pace of repairs, it seems counterintuitive to continue closing the road and increasing impacts. They are even ceasing roadworks for the Ironman, so now we have repairs taking longer too.

It's time for our councillors to start governing and ask some serious questions about these kinds of events. I was profoundly disappointed when the new Douglas Shire Council in one of its first acts signed up for more. But it isn't unusual for Council; they received a number of letters about ferry fee increases including from peak tourism bodies and went and did it anyway without a whimper from any of them. So I guess expecting Council to consider residents and businesses in decision making is a big call anyway?

My view is that if we are to have these events closing roads and costing businesses money, and residents time, they should be required to donate to marketing of the region. Ironman should be giving at least $50k, split between TPDD and Daintree Marketing Co-op. Fondo should be donating at least a similar amount. Perhaps another $50k from each event to Mossman Support Services or another worthy charity?

DSC recently crowed about a $500k a year decision to support TPDD, but this is a similar amount to years ago, with no allowance for inflation. How are we supposed to market when the amount in real terms is decaying fast? Answer in part - make these cyclists pay their way. Or kick them out.

Lawrence Mason has lived at Cape Tribulation all his life, and has been involved in farming, timber and tourism. He is a former board member of Tourism Port Douglas Daintree, founding Chair of Daintree Marketing Co-operative, and has been a member of both Alexandra Bay and Mossman State High School P&C. He is also a member of the Douglas Chamber of Commerce and has a keen interest in local issues.

The opinions and views in this column are those of the author and author only and do not reflect the Newsport editor or staff.