2020-01-13 GC Agenda - Item 10 - Attachment 2 - The Value of Tourism to the Noosa Community October 2019 FINAL REPORT

Over 100 businesses in the 176 sample size offered an opinion on the ease or otherwise of
securing affordable housing for themselves and their staff in Noosa. Fifty five (55) percent
indicated that there were issues in securing affordable housing, 31 percent indicated there
were no problems, and 14 percent were undecided. Of those who felt there were issues
associated with obtaining affordable housing in Noosa, general comments indicated the
following:
     • Housing and accommodation is expensive generally, and there is a shortage of
        options, particularly in coastal areas.
     • Many staff live outside Noosa because of affordability issues. Due to this, people
        need to travel further to work and must have cars due to affordability issues. This
        increases parking issues, and parking is difficult.
     • Affordability issues are exacerbated because of the low wages in the service sectors.
     • Young people find it difficult to remain living in Noosa due to affordability as do
        working families.

Some people offered suggestions regarding the needs for staff housing. This included
supporting:

      •   The development of affordable apartments in the activity centres. This would
          support housing options as well as provide businesses with additional custom/trade.
      •   The development of more one bedroom and studio apartments specifically targeted
          to local service staff.
      •   Targeting certain areas that would be ripe for housing (e.g. vacant/unused land,
          other specific areas such as Noosa Heads Bowls club, transport nodes).

Over half of all businesses (52 percent) undertook renovations every 5 years, and there was
no statistical difference between businesses that were directly or indirectly impacted by
tourism. However, on average a third of businesses that were directly impacted by tourism
undertook renovations every 12 months, whereas the same statistic for businesses indirectly
impacted by tourism was 13 percent.

Figure 20: Frequency of Renovations / Upgrades, by Businesses with Direct versus Indirect
Impacts from Tourism

60%
                                                         Direct Impact Industry
                                                         (average time for renovations = 4.8 years)
                                                         Indirect Impact Industry
50%                                                      (average time for renovations = 6.7 years)
                                                         Total Business Respondents
                                                         (average time for renovations = 5.6 years)
40%



30%



20%



10%



 0%
           Every 12 months     Every 5 years        Every 10 years           Over 10 years or more
                                               30