Where have all the tourists gone

..... not to mention the price of fuel, interest rates, inflation etc etc.

Kennel

Agree Peter. As annoying as they may be, booking hassles would be near the bottom of the list I reckon. The article mentioned a few obvious reasons, there are plenty more as we can already see from the small sample of comments here. Doubt many/any on this forum would cancel trips entirely because of booking difficulties.

I would agree Pedro.
We are currently on WA coast north of Perth and are finding the caravan parks at near full capacity. In several cases we were accepted as non-booked arrivals only because we did not require a powered site. Most rigs on the road are caravans or motorhomes with few camper trailers. Blimey, there are some huge rigs being towed around.
And the weather for the past several weeks has been absolutely perfect here. Heading toward home in Qld in a couple of days so hope it improves there before our return.

Good observation - Australian campsites are on duty 12 months of the year - they never get a chance to recover, they just keep on deteriorating - its refreshing to visit say, Canada or NZ where at least the bush gets a winter reprieve from the onslaught of abuse and pollution. It sad that National Parks dont consider the deterioration of some of their natural "assets" and let them rest up at times.

Hi Kerry,

In Australia’s Top End there are very few tourists in the “wet season”. This is when those National Parks get some respite.

Do you think that all the US & Canadian National Parks get a respite over winter? Quite a lot that are in the Snow Fields are not only used in winter as “Ski Resorts”, but also in the summer for camping as well. One of our forum members lives in the US, she may be able to confirm this.

Macca.

Tourism does drop to a certain degree in some top end parks but there are still vistors, fishermen and others into the parks. The rest of Australias parks also see sking in winter and hiking in summer monthss. As the wet season is a really stressful time for fauna they dont really get much of a respite. I see on many forums the uneducated are calling for parks to allow them to take their dogs into the parks with them. Some people shouldn't be allowed to breed..

Macca, I spend considerable time exploring, hiking and camping in the Pacific north West and British Columbia as my son is an adventurer and a long term resident there so pretty familiar with the outdoor culture there… Snow is an amazing buffer for soils and vegetation from erosion and traffic and the spring thaw rejuvenates amazingly - I can’t speak for the warmer dryer south of US but climate, water and rest does wonder for any landscape - tourists anywhere are part of a huge problem for any remaining ecosystem on the planet. Not sure if you are doubting what I’m saying or just want to be contrarian- my point really is the the Australian bush, habitats and wildlife are really on the edge….and they want to bring another million or more people here in the near future and consequently clear more bush, feed and sustain them - where does it end? As explorers of the diminishing wild areas of Australia we need to be a lot more proactive and supportive of ideas and actions in trying to preserve what is left. It’s tragic seeing so many beautiful environments simply gone! Hard to be silent for a bloke who had been brought up on the road since the mid 1960s

Australia has the worst record in the world for mammalian species extiction. Mans greed, politicians greed and lack of morals does little to help. Throw in a good dose of the self entitled mob and its no wonder the planet is going shite.

Hi Kerry,

No offence intended, and I don’t doubt what you say is correct for some National Parks in the US & Canada, I was merely pointing out that some of the National Parks are still used all year round, which you intimated was not the case.

I have also personally seen similar looking vistas on Fraser Island KGari, The Otways in Victoria, Litchfield National Park in the NT.

Macca.