FACT OR FICTION: Douglas Shire not welcoming of local tourists?
LETTER TO EDITOR
Dear Editor,
My husband and I recently retired on the Cairns Northern beaches after many years of living overseas. We now find ourselves regularly hosting friends and relatives from interstate and abroad and have recently also begun hosting Japanese students.
We love to take our visitors to Port Douglas, Mossman Gorge and up to Cape Tribulation.
On a recent trip to Mossman Gorge, one of our Japanese students discovered she had left her student I.D. back at our house.
It was clear that the young ladies were together and our guests - we are of European ethnicity - but the lady at the desk would still only give a student discount ( paltry as it was) to the student who had her card with her. How ungenerous!
When we enquired about a locals' discount for ourselves for the attraction, we were told it was only for people living in the Douglas Shire. And yet we are 'just down the road!'.
This is a ridiculous state of affairs! I would have thought the Douglas Shire Council would be keen to promote local visitors as it's a ready source of income.
The cost of the Daintree Ferry keeps escalating, which also makes us think twice about a day out in the National Park. We are also more likely to visit during the off- season, helping to maintain a revenue stream for local businesses.
I really do wonder about the lack of creativity by our Councils' in Far North Queensland regarding encouraging local tourism.
Cairns is no better - instead of running half empty trains to Kuranda, they could be discounted for local use.
They could also do a much better job of advertising events - one has to be a veritable social media detective to find out what is going on!
The success of a region is engendered by local pride in that region, so let's work harder together to support our tourism industry.
Best,
Alison Hooker
Thank you!
Newsport thanks its advertising partners for their support in the delivery of daily community news to the Douglas Shire. Public interest journalism is a fundamental part of every community.
Got a news tip? Let us know! Send your news tips or submit a letter to the editor here.
* Comments are the opinions of readers and do not represent the views of Newsport, its staff or affiliates. Reader comments on Newsport are moderated before publication to promote valuable, civil, and healthy community debate. Visit our comment guidelines if your comment has not been approved for publication.