The heart of our concern is the dismal state of the Douglas Tourism sector and how it is managed. The flow on effect is the impact this is having on the overall Douglas Economy which is 80% dependent on the tourism sector. The overall consistent decrease in the regions gross regional product is the evidence.

Gross Regional Product is a measure of wealth of a community,  it underpins the degree to which the citizens have a sense of well-being or anxiety around their families security and future prospects. Unemployment is unstable, new business continually fails and new and exciting projects just never get off the ground.

We the Douglas Business Community are telling Douglas Shire Council and our peak tourism body, Tourism Port Douglas Daintree loud and clear that it simply isn't good enough to meander on as if all is well in Tropical Paradise.

We the Douglas Business Community urgently require Tourism Port Douglas Daintree to be transformed into a modern day commercial tourism organisation with haste. Douglas Tourism requires a minimum $3.5 million p.a. Advertising & Promotional $Spend to ensure Tourism in this region can be underpinned by intelligent and effective strategies, to achieve sensible and well managed growth. $Visitor Spend should be Budgeted at double the rate of Visitor Numbers in the first few years, so we can recover the decline of the last 10 > 15 years.

All concerned should understand the urgency and accept the clarion call for transformative change to run and manage Douglas Tourism.