Even here in my office with two computers and four screens going all the time it’s rather chilly

hmmmmm, i come to hervey bay to rip around in my gt…. bugger the whales!!!!!

ps, can you turn your heaters on please, as i’m coming back on friday, and the weather looks a tad on the cool side!!!!

micky.

I guess with Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast becoming increasingly over-crowded, and expensive, Hervey Bay is the next town up the coast, and it is still a lot cheaper, so logically it will become bigger and more developed as well.

I have heard rumours there is support for direct flights from Hervey Bay to Melbourne.

At any rate, I know several people who have recently bought investment properties in the Bay, hoping that all the infrastructure, development and strong population growth will increase property values in the long term. I guess only time will tell.

I can understand why people don’t want the Bay to change, I’m not sure that I really want to see it change much more either. But on the other hand I see that quite a few of the things that we take for granted - good shopping, some great restaurants, infrastructure that we might have grown to depend on may need a develping tourist industry to grow further.

Businesses that don’t grow stagnate and stagnating businesses don’t continue to provide the level of service that we’ve become accustomed to.

And as for your last question … well I just don’t know. We’ve never been involved in tourism and until just recently our business was focused entirely on overseas clients. Now that we’ve begun to look inward we’ve seen quite a few local small businesses who would love to have more tourists coming for something other than the just the whales.

Too many businesses here in the Bay are living on a boom and bust cycle every year and that’s not good for them and it’s not ideal for the rest of the town either.

I guess the problem within any community is the disagreement associated with tourism develpment. Obviously some members support strong tourism growth, while other are opposed to the concept entirely.

How long have you resided in Hervey Bay and what ideas, if any, do you have regarding tourism in the Bay?

Yes, at first glance it probably does look a little confusing but look at it this way; are people going to fly up from Sydney to go riding on a jet ski? Are people going to fly up from Sydney to sky diving or visit the local museum?

Those are all things that will help keep tourists ‘busy’ while they’re here - but what else apart from the whales and perhaps Fraser Island have we got to pull the tourists in from those other places?

However, in a previous posting, regarding backpackers and their lack of interest in Hervay Bay tourist activities, you argue that “if you are prepared to grab some brochures” there are numerous attractions for tourists in Hervey Bay.

Thus I am somewhat confused.

The messages you are communicating appear to contradict one another to some degree.