Have your say on Douglas economy
Thursday October 17 2013
Have your say on the Douglas economy
How much does your business depend on tourism? Or the cane industry?
What would happen if those primary industries suffered a major setback? How would our 1400 businesses cope? What can we do to safeguard our economy if we were to suffer another pilot strike, natural disaster or worse?
That’s what the Douglas Economic Development Group (DEDG) wants to know, after conducting a landmark report that found over 90 per cent of all economic activity in the Douglas region is tourism dependent.
The report, based on extensive research and current 2012-2013 figures, is the first Douglas-specific economic study in over 15 years.
It found tourism-related activities are our economic juggernaut, generating a staggering $560 million towards the $605 million annual total, with the region’s second major economic driver, the Mossman-based cane industry, generating $35 million per annum.*
Ahead of the local Council election on November 9, the DEDG plans to release key findings from their report, to provide residents and the business community with an overview of our current economic climate, plus recommendations moving forward.
“Ideally, we’ll encourage discussion and feedback from the community, including ways to bolster key industries,” said DEDG spokesperson Martin Tranter.
“We have a small population, but that doesn’t mean we should have limited goals.
“Growth of Council revenue - which will be needed by Council to improve parks roads and social and community facilities - must be linked to a drive to improve economic conditions, to grow the pie. The existing tax base is limited. Council needs to work with Cane and Tourism to grow the industries and improve everybody’s bottom line.”
Over the next month, the DEDG encourages Council candidates to keep our economy at the front and centre of future Council considerations, and suggest improvements.
Among the 2013 Douglas Economic Strategy Report’s key findings:
- About 1400 recorded businesses trade in the Douglas Region. 1300 of these are small businesses (defined as a business with less than 20 employees);
- The level of dependency on the two core industries, tourism and cane, results in an extreme dependency from service and ancillary industries (including trade contractors) on tourism and cane;
- Forecasts provided by Tourism Australia Estimates predict a further major increase in the Australian tourism industry by 2020. By extension, this means a boost to the state’s Far North and Douglas region;
- Cane-related economic activity will double over the next two years.
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Next week...
The Douglas Region’s regional government expenditure on tourism destination management/marketing compared to competitors including the Whitsundays, Gold Coast, and Townsville.
To obtain a copy of the 2013 Douglas Economic Strategy Report click here
*The totals are pre-economic multipliers. Economic multipliers reflect the additional economic activity created as a flow on from the derivation of the core industry revenue (for example service contractors/mechanics/tradies/supermarkets).
