Sharing best practice tourism with China

The Guangxi Tourism Development Commission headed by Deputy Director General Lin Xinhe visited Australia in November to investigate best practice tourism to apply to their region in the mountainous South East of China.

The Guangxi region is most famous for the South China Karst, limestone formations which were added to the World Heritage List in June this year.

The group spent an afternoon hearing from a range of Cairns officials including Wet Tropics Manager of Communities, Aboriginal Partnerships and Tourism, Dr Paul Chantrill on balancing sustainable World Heritage management with tourism.

Later in the week the delegation spent a morning exploring the Wet Tropics with Paul and tourism project officer Jessica Rolfe-Flett. The group had already visited a number of key tourism businesses in the region and wanted to get off the beaten track. They visited Lake Morris where Paul and Jess explained the variety of management practises which take place in the World Heritage Area such as balancing infrastructure needs for water, elelctricity and roads without comprising the aesthetic values of the area in the interests of tourism.

The day included a talk about the needs of visitors to the area, from large tour groups to self-drive visitors, and the challenges of managing the vast landscape that is covered by the Wet Tropics.
 

Published: 12th Aug 2014