Call to Ban Cruise Ships from National Park Areas in Tasmania

   January 15, 2018 ,   Cruise Industry

About 125 cruise ships are scheduled to dock in Hobart and Burnie in 2018.

29 of the ships will make a visit to Port Arthur and 6 will drop anchor off Freycinet and Wineglass Bay on the east coast.

Freycinet Action Network is petitioning Tasmania's State Government to ban large cruise liners from entering waters around the national park.

The network also want an exclusion zone set up for Tasmanian national park areas.

According to Dr Sue Beeton, professor of tourism at William Angliss Institute, managing the expectations of locals and tourists was a challenge for cruise industry and governments.

Dr Beeton added that the cruise industry was an "incredible survivor" as it managed to grow worldwide when many predicted it would die out.

However, the growth of cruise vacations has not been without controversy and the rise in cruise visitors to areas like Port Arthur was welcomed for increasing tourism dollars being injected into the site.

Port Arthur Tasmania

But there have been concerns about the visual and environmental impacts of vessels in other areas of Tasmania.

According to the Freycinet Action Network, when a large cruise vessel anchored by Wineglass Bay last year it left fumes over the bay, disturbed the ocean floor, and was "spoiling the natural scenery of the national park".

Concerns have been raised in Hobart about the health and environmental impacts of low-grade fuel that is being burnt while cruise ships are in port.

Tasmania is held up as an icon in combining the natural environment and the tourism industry in a really positive way for both sides, and the issue is raising a lot of questions.