Editorial: “Environmental tourism” plans for Tasmania’s PAs expose basic dilemma of park management
The development planned for Cradle Mountain in Tasmania’s north-west is arguably the most high-profile example of the dilemma faced by governments dealing with the growing popularity of nature-based tourism in national parks.
Visited by more than 268,000 tourists in 2017, and with visits growing at 12% a year, the facilities at Cradle Mountain were stretched to the limit. So the Tasmanian government pledged $160m to build a new visitor centre and tourism village on the edge of the heritage area.