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

The Extent of Unintended Negative Consequences of Tourism in Noosa

Noosa, businesses, residents and visitors also indicated that there were unintended negative
consequences associated with tourism. The extent to which these were experienced in
Noosa is summarised below.

Table 17: Summary of Negative Economic Impacts on Noosa associated with Tourism

 Potential Economic            Evidence of Negative Impacts in Noosa:
 Negative Impacts              Results from Analyses

 •   Inflated / high           ûû         •   Business Survey: Over half of the businesses surveyed indicated that
     property values                          their staff had difficulty in securing affordable accommodation.
     impacting on locals                      Comments made included that housing and accommodation was
     (and particularly first                  expensive generally across Noosa, but particularly in coastal areas.
     home buyers / low to                     Due to this, staff often lived outside of Noosa, which has follow on
     middle income                            implications for the need to travel further to work, the requirement
     earners)                                 for owning a care. Some businesses specifically mentioned this as a
                                              problem for younger workers. Some businesses also indicated that
                                              affordability was exacerbated because of the generally low wages in
                                              the tourism and service sectors.

 •   Seasonal                  No             Most businesses agreed that Noosa is very reliant on tourism, which
     employment                evidence       makes the economy susceptible downturns in tourism and to
                               to             seasonality. With regard to seasonality, however, there was no
                               support        evidence to suggest significant employment fluctuations between
                               negative       peak and non-peak periods.
                               impact
                                              The highest proportion of 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
 •   A casualised              ûû             months, whereas the same statistic for businesses indirectly
     workforce, minimum                       impacted by tourism was 13 percent. Although this is not conclusive
     wages, minimal                           evidence of an industry maintaining currency of the tourism offer, it
     worker benefits and a                    provides one level of understanding that businesses need to remain
     narrow range of skills                   modern.
     development
     opportunities                        •   Resident Survey: Between 82 and 84 percent of residents agreed
                                              that, because of Noosa’s appeal, property prices and the cost of
                                              goods and services are likely to be inflated. However, the impact on
                                              the community was rated as relatively small and the impact on the
                                              individual even less.
 •   A tendency to             ûû
     depend on tourism                    •   Visitors Survey: Visitors indicated that the quality of the tourism
     jobs, which narrows                      elements in Noosa was generally at least ‘good’ if not higher. The
     and makes an                             only two elements that were rated marginally less than good (but
     economy vulnerable                       were still positive) was evening entertainment and value for money.
                                              Although not conclusive evidence that Noosa is maintaining the
                                              currency of its tourism offer, it does provide evidence that there is
                                              general satisfaction of the tourism offer in Noosa by visitors.




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