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

Tourism is generally sensitive to the environment,    The largest negative impacts on the community
but there is room for improvement.                    from tourism highlighted by this study were
                                                      associated with congestion/car parking and housing
Noosa’s policy environment acknowledges the need affordability. Noosa Shire’s policies and strategies
for environmental sensitivity, and Noosa’s visitors   acknowledge these issues and there are many
and residents surveyed acknowledged that              initiatives in place.
businesses do implement environmental measures.
Nonetheless, this is an area that could be improved, With regard to congestion and parking, amongst
both in practice for businesses and in perception for other things, Council has developed a transport
the wider community.                                  strategy, a transport reference group, and is
                                                      working on a range of actions and initiatives to
Overall, 23 percent of people surveyed would like to improve transport choice and accessibility
see tourism growth in Noosa in more                   throughout the Shire and key popular areas.
environmentally responsive directions. For those
people aged under 30 years of age, 44 percent held With regard to affordable housing, Council’s Draft
this view. By comparison, only 5 percent of           Noosa Plan is underpinned by a housing needs
Sunshine Coast residents and 7 percent of             analysis, which seeks to address, amongst other
Queensland residents felt this way about tourism.     things, issues around housing choice and
Environmentally responsive policies and tourism       affordability through increasing medium and high
directions are clear areas of focus for Tourism       density housing options and providing incentives for
Noosa and Noosa Council – evidenced through the developers to produce smaller dwellings in areas
establishment of the Sustainable Tourism Reference proximate to activity centres.
Group.
                                                      Other less mentioned negative impacts identified by
Tourism does have unintended negative                 those surveyed included some level of
consequences in Noosa, but the impact on the          inappropriate behaviour and increased litter and
community and individuals for most of these           noise associated with tourism activity. The
elements is relatively low:                           perceived impacts of these on the individual were
                                                      quite low, but are still worth monitoring over time.




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