‘Members are concerned about how this will be rolled out and how that rollout will impact their businesses’: NT tourism industry calls for meeting with Minister on fees

THE Territory’s peak body representing the Top End’s tourism industry wants the government to undertake further consultation before new parks fees come into effect Tourism Top End general manager Glen Hingley said the devil was in the detail and the industry wanted a lot more detail about the implementation of the new fees, which were revealed by the NT News on Tuesday. Workers strike at Darwin Inpex site over wages, conditions New multimillion-dollar world class luxury resort for Darwin Plans for roof top bar ‘too good to hide from the people of Darwin’ “Members are concerned about how this will be rolled out and how that rollout will impact their businesses,” Mr Hingley said. “That is a mixture of businesses that are touring businesses, camping and caravan parks, hiking businesses … all different aspects of tourism businesses are keen to know more. “They want to ensure that they can continue to deliver with their distribution partners that are local and abroad. “There are a number of factors that come into that with the way they package that, the way that they onsell their prices and the lead time into that. Parks have acknowledged there is more considerations rather than just setting up an online platform and charging tourists a park fee.” Mr Hingley said implementation of park fees has its challenges which industry wants to sit down with Parks Minister Selena Uibo and her department to discuss. HOT NEW DEAL: Read everything for 28 days for just $1 “Both Tourism Top End and Tourism Central Australia are looking forward to having that conversation,” he said. “ “The concept of a Park Pass and what it looks like, how much it is and so on, needs to be explained properly to industry. We are still yet to get any real detail around that other than an acknowledgment they will consult. We want that to happen quickly.” THE Territory’s peak body representing the Top End’s tourism industry wants the NT government to undertake further consultation with industry before new parks fees come into effect on July 1. gary.shipway@news.com.au