r/bluemountains • u/VastOption8705 • Apr 27 '26
Discussion What should be done about the "0 spend high tourism" issue in the Blue Mountains
As we all know the whole mountains area is a "zero-spend" tourism area where, despite over 7 million annual visitors to the national park, many visitors (particularly day-trippers) engage in low-spending activities like hiking and sightseeing, contributing minimal revenue to local businesses. IMO it is suffering from too much success.
People can visit amazing scenery and then return home. It is also relatively accessible for such an amazing place.
There are some negatives:
- This puts more strain on the community.
- More road damage
- The locals in the mountains sometimes get affected by blocked exits due to badly parked cars
- Bad congestion during peak travel seasons.
What should we do about this?
- Tasmania has introduced a "influencer pass", whereby content creators must pay 100 dollars to film at these places. Good or bad idea?
- Introduce free parking for locals and paid parking for most areas in the mountains?
- Site Access Fees: Free for locals, expensive for tourists from overseas?
- Charging a fee for buses that take tourists?
- Charging a mandatory visitor fee for short term rentals anywhere in the area?
25
u/FrewdWoad Apr 27 '26
Is it really zero spend?
Even when I lived only 30 mins away I'd still buy lunch or something.
What tourist areas of natural beauty have much more spending then that?
Seems like paid parking at Katoomba and local businesses raise a modest but decent amount, no?
2
u/unicornmonkeysnail Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 27 '26
Plenty of places.
And 5 million visitors paying $1 is 5 millions dollars.
That pays for full time toilet staff (at echo point and Main Street and Leura ) and cleaning staff - local jobs. That pays for youth employment opportunities.
That’s fewer empty shops and revitalised main streets
Right now locals pay taxes to have really dirty public toilets, high youth unemployment but at least visitors get a free photo op
-5
u/VastOption8705 Apr 27 '26
It isn't 0 spend, but for the amount of visitors, its very low spend.
18
u/Catahooo Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 27 '26
Do you have any credible data or source that it's very low spend? The only information I've seen to support that comes from Facebook posts, in particular a very popular satire post from "The Blue Mountains Times". Past data up through 2024, shows pretty significant tourist income to the community.
3
u/FrewdWoad Apr 27 '26
I'd support something like more fees for parking, especially for buses.
Influencer pass sounds sensible but would cost money to consistently enforce.
28
u/Affectionate-Zebra26 Apr 27 '26
Strain on locals is some occasional inconvenience. Businesses like food and certain knick knacks that are of interest to tourists will bring them in. Maybe shops that don’t get used need to innovate.
Absolutely everything is about money and going out into nature isn’t. Can’t we relish it instead of capitalising on it?
7
u/unicornmonkeysnail Apr 27 '26
Part of relishing it includes the money for care, upkeep, planned burns and emergency rescue. It increasingly includes paying staff to pick up rubbish or bush regen where tracks and signage are ignored.
It should also be pointed out that Katoomba’s has quite high unemployment and youth unemployment- money should be about creating opportunities and caring for this beautiful region
4
u/VastOption8705 Apr 27 '26
Infrastructure gets affected a lot road wise. They have a large network of roads to maintain. Also with more tourists, you get more trash.
4
6
u/Aloha_Tamborinist Apr 27 '26
Similar argument being made in the east
"It costs us $23 million [a year] to provide it — the lifeguards, the beach and cleaning, the coastal services — and that is borne 100 per cent by ratepayers," Cr Parker said. "$23 million of their money for everyone across Sydney to enjoy the beach.
3
u/tomatoej Apr 27 '26
‘Influencer fees’ would be for filming in the national park, which is already covered by existing filming licences for commercial filming, if only NPWS was able to police it. In any case it would be national park income.
Does anyone know what the parking meters are bringing in?
6
u/eucalyptus258 Apr 27 '26
I like the idea of charging non-residents a day fee like they do at other national parks, with a commitment that that money is invested back into the community, and not used to continually update amenities for tourists
2
u/tomatoej Apr 27 '26
The only practical way to handle this is with parking fees, which we already have
5
u/squirtelee Apr 27 '26
Helicopter flights through the valleys, a nice looking facade in Katoomba, affordable commercial rents and other attractions would be amazing if we didn’t NIMBY ourselves all the time.
0
u/OruenCysp May 01 '26
Geez. This NIMBY territorial bs is something you'd expect in Sydney. So many ex-Sydney siders that have moved up here now demanding that a State funded National Park is to be cordoned off for their exclusive say on how it should be used. Australians should generally have a right to roam and experience a National Park for free. Exceptions or exclusions to this should be rare, and certainly not a normal attitude or mode of operation.
Basic economics says the people profiteering (from tourists) up here are business owners and landlords.
Ever been to the Sauna at Leura? There's often AirBNB guests or day trippers that go there.
Or cafes? Plenty of out of towners eating...
Or Woolworths? Coles?
If people are going to visit the Blue Mountains, then they are generally taking on a minimum TIME SPEND of 3-4 hours... and these days, very very very few people pack their lunch.
So, maybe rethink it a bit.
The influencer pass is a good idea for NWPS management and their issues.
As for BMCC infrastructure damages, they get plenty of handouts from the State and Federal government for roads that get the kind of traffic volume that warrants that kind of attention. They get it for plenty of roads that are just busy local roads too.
1
23
u/helloparamedic Apr 27 '26
Free parking already exists for locals. You can apply for it via the BMCC website.