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

 Potential Economic            Evidence of Negative Impacts in Noosa:
 Negative Impacts              Results from Analyses
 •   A need to maintain        No         •   Other Comments: The policy environment of Noosa acknowledges
     currency of the           evidence       the important role tourism plays in the economy, but also notes the
     tourism offer in order    to             need for diversification. The Local Economic Development Plan
     to maintain               support        focusses on diversifying the Noosa Economy and, while still including
     competitiveness with      negative       tourism, is also targeting other areas such as health and wellness;
     other tourism             impact         digital economy; rural enterprise; environmental industries;
     destinations.                            education and training; professional services and creative industries.
                                              Transport and affordable housing initiatives are areas of focus for
                                              Council as is sustainable tourism generally.




Table 18: Summary of Negative Social Impacts on Noosa associated with Tourism

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

 •   Affordability issues      ûû         •   Business Survey: As noted above, affordability issues associated
     with property                            with property is considered an issue for businesses and their staff.
     (particularly for staff                  For businesses, this in turn leads to longer journeys to work as well
     of tourism services),                    as a reduced ability to encourage active transport. Just over half
     leasing and goods                        the businesses surveyed indicated that tourism and events
     and services                             negatively impacted Noosa through traffic congestion and road
                                              closures. Parking was also seen to be an issue by 42 percent of
 •   Encroachment of           û              businesses. Less than 5 percent indicated that tourism made
     tourism development                      Noosa less enjoyable. There were no comments by businesses to
     and services over                        suggest that Noosa is losing its ‘soul’ or identity due to tourism.
     local markets
                                          •   Resident Survey: Again as noted above, between 82 and 84
                                              percent of residents indicated that tourism contributes to the
                                              erosion of affordable housing and goods and services. However
 •   Unwelcomed                ûû             residents rated the impact of the issue on Noosa low, and on them
     increased in                             personally even lower.
     population and
     congestion                               The majority of residents cited tourism as a reason for increased
                                              congestion, difficulty with parking and difficulty of locals accessing
                                              public facilities. Survey residents’ perception of the impact on
                                              Noosa resulting from this was relatively high, and somewhat lower
 •   Potential for             û              for them personally.
     disruption to social
     norms, values or                         Nearly half of the residents surveyed noted that tourism can be
     customs                                  associated with people behaving inappropriately, and they rated
                                              this as impactful on Noosa, and less so personally.

                                          •   Visitor Survey: Not surprisingly visitors from interstate and
 •   The                       No             internationally were most likely to use means other than a car to
     commercialisation of      evidence       get to Noosa. As such, they were more likely to think that Noosa
     culture and eroding       to             did not need further car parks.
     of ‘soul’ / identity.     support
                               negative       The visitor survey focussed on understanding why people came to
                               impact         Noosa and their rating of elements once there. It would be useful
                                              for future surveys to also directly explore any potential negative
                                              impacts / experiences during people’s visits.


                                                  55