A land that destination marketing forgot
The small promontory at the furthest end of the coastline is Cape Tribulation. The mouth of the watercourse at the nearest end, belongs to Cooper Creek. Mt. Emmett, in the foreground, partially eclipses Mt. Hemmant, which in turn conceals the bulk of Mt. Sorrow.
The catchments of Cooper and Noah creeks contain the world’s closest living counterpart to the ancient rainforests of Gondwana.
Approximately 500,000 visitors per year cross the Daintree River with the primary objective of getting into undisturbed rainforest and seeing some of Australia’s unique wildlife in natural habitat. About 75% are part of what is described as popular day visitation out of Cairns and Port Douglas. The other 25% stay overnight.
Over the years, the greatest criticism of visitors surveyed, is the overcrowding and disappointment that they did not get into undisturbed rainforest. As three-quarters of all travellers are on day-tourism, wildlife sightings are unlikely.
According to the TROPICAL NORTH QUEENSLAND Destination Management Plan, there is a need to develop alternate natural sites within private and public lands to alleviate issues such as environmental degradation caused by high volumes of visitors to certain sites, such as the Daintree Rainforest.
To understand how influential government is upon tourism activity, it is helpful to know that for an approximate $13.5million per year expenditure, tourism is required to pay only 2.5% return for access to visitor facilities and services on public lands within the area.
For the illusion of free or nominal-fee entry, travellers are convinced not to go where they set out - into undisturbed rainforest. As a consequence, the majesty of the Gondwanan forests of the Cooper and Noah valleys remains a dark secret.