by Roy Weavers

I have lived in Port Douglas for over eight years now and I have watched it slowly but surely get more and more anxious as it battles to come to terms with the dilemma of modern tourism and how it sees itself fitting in. 

I appreciate it's always dangerous to over generalise but Port Douglas would seem to me to have at least two factions who all, in their own opinions, fervently and honestly work for the town's best interests. 

Unfortunately when you have two or more sides working the same patch, you always get a conflict of interest.  Should we have a Lagoon Pool or shouldn't we?  Should we have live loud music in town or shouldn't we?  Should the Carnivale be four days or ten days? 

Every dilemma, regardless of size, has it's supporters and detractors.  And unless there is a meeting of the minds, Port Douglas will never stop lurching from one clash of wills to the next. 

My dear ole Dad used to call this 'Firefighting' where you just put one fire out as another one breaks out behind you. As you put that one out another one breaks out to the left of you and so on.  Everyone working hard but nothing really getting done.

I hope I'm not stepping too far out of line when I say that the older generation doesn't want change, it doesn't want progress.  It wants Port Douglas to remain as it was 25 years ago. 

Well it may be worth reminding those 'stick in the muds', that 25 years ago Port Douglas went through the biggest change it has ever experienced.  The Sheraton Mirage Hotel, Golf Course and Marina were built and the town progressed so fast into the 20th century that fortunes were made by many of the locals as the supply of visitors seemed never-ending and new residents began to pour in to expand the town.

Was that seen as a bad thing at the time by the locals or was it welcomed?  After all, many of them had genuinely been here when Port Douglas was literally a fishing village, which is so often the argument that is put up by the older generation as to why Port Douglas should not change!

Since that massive visionary step forward by Christopher Skase, Port Douglas has hardly moved on. 

Yes, there's been a few modifications with the arrival of the Sea Temple Resort and Golf Course on the outskirts of town, Coconut Grove at the beach end of town with its luxury apartments and neon shop lights and Macrossan Street has filled up with shops and offices.  But Port Douglas in essence is still living on the Skase vision!

And for at least the past five years that vision has faltered.  The five star supply of visitors has dried up, or maybe just not expanded.  We now get a different type of visitor with different requirements. 

That's not necessairly a bad thing but it requires some adjustments in the town's products and services.  It's these changes that, if handled badly, can 'feed the fear' for all sides of this equation. 

The older generation don't want change, the younger generation want as much change as possible to modernise the destination and the businesses have to control their expenses despite the urgent need to promote the area and showcase what we already enjoy.

Almost all the shops would agree that they desperately need to advertise themselves both inside and outside the area but are anxious about how they can afford it. 

When you walk along the main street and see signs pronouncing "Closed back in 4 weeks', or the sparsely populated pubs with no 'live' music pumping out, the anxiety just grows inside until you get caught up in the fear of how on earth do we break out of this depressing situation.

Against our better judgement, it would appear the town has accepted the principal of an 'off' season so even if visitors do become 'adventurous by nature' and come into town, then they faced with shut shops, closed restaurants and quiet pubs.  Not exactly the kind of excitement that is going to get the juices flowing to spread the word to their family and friends about what a 'must see, must do' kind of place Port is.

The tourism bodies prudently announced that they are not spending any of their precious budgets to support the new branding from when it was released in November 2010 until March 2011 so the town was left isolated to fend for itself through the quieter summer months.  It's like a self fulfilling prophecy!

Even Mother Nature has played her part. Floods in Southern Queensland, Cyclone Anthony, Cyclone Yasi and of course her worst creation, the southern and international press with their sensational headlines which fail to differentiate between those affected and those who are not.

Bookings get cancelled, visitors leave town and travel professionals advise alternative options on the basis that Queensland is too dangerous and unpredictable at this time of the year.  Where do they get this stuff from? Oh yes the southern press!

Head in the sand tourism professionals insist that the strength of the Aussie dollar is not having any affect on people's travel plans but Indonesia and Thailand continue to grow exponentially whilst we sink in the west, well north actually!

Is it any wonder then with this rich menu of negativity that our deepest fears are being fed? 

What we must fight against is that these fears become a reality.  The solution is in our own hands, Port Douglas must change and channel the energy currently put into feeding our fears into a positive plan to make Port Douglas a 365on all year round destination.

In my opinion that goal is going to take a lot of energy and is not going to be achieved by the current old school who currently have control.  Since I'm also in my sixties I think I'm aloud to say, "Back off you oldens and let the young uns have their go. They will surprise you with how they can re-establish Port Douglas as a number one destination again".

Let's get some positivity back in this town!

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