Environment and Resource Management

Tourism in Protected Areas Initiative (TIPA)

What is TIPA?

Queensland’s national parks and forests attract more than 16 million visits each year. To ensure a balance between conservation of the state’s iconic national parks and tourism, the Queensland Government—through the Department of Environment and Resource Management’s Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, Tourism Queensland and the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation—has developed the Tourism in Protected Areas (TIPA) framework in partnership with the tourism sector.

TIPA provides a management framework for commercial operations in key protected areas which attract high visitation—to help ensure a sustainable future for both Queensland’s environment and its essential tourism industry. More information is available in the Tourism in Protected Areas Information Booklet (PDF, 1.2M)*.

It will benefit industry operators and will result in benefits being dispersed throughout regional Queensland

It is increasingly recognised that protecting natural areas by managing sustainable visitor levels is important in ensuring the longevity of their natural values. TIPA will achieve best practice management of these fragile natural environments and also ensure that the unique values of the areas are maintained for visitors to experience.

TIPA will first apply to commercial tours at Natural Bridge in Springbrook National Park, Fraser Island Recreation Area in Great Sandy National Park and the Whitsundays islands. QPWS will work with operators to have commercial activity agreements in place by early 2012.

By late 2013, operators conducting commercial tours in the Cooloola Recreation Area in Great Sandy National Park, Moreton Island Recreation Area, Daintree National Park and Cape York (subject to existing and proposed Indigenous Management Agreements for each protected area) will have made the transition to commercial activity agreements.

It provides an efficient, effective and equitable system of allocating commercial tourism operators access to key protected areas based on sustainable visitor capacity.

TIPA seeks to respond to the business needs of tourism operators by offering greater certainty and flexibility through longer tenures and streamlined administrative processes.

More broadly, TIPA provides the basis for ensuring sustainable use by all visitors to Queensland’s protected area network.

A key feature of TIPA is that existing operators will transition from three-year permits to 15-year agreements with allocations that allow for existing use plus a margin for growth.  More details can be found in the Transferring from an Existing Commercial Activity Permit to a Commercial Activity Agreement fact sheet (PDF, 462K)*.

Commercial tour operators will maintain eco-accreditation (PDF, 437K)* for the life of their agreement which will contribute to the development of best practice nature-based tourism experiences, more effective protected area management and will strengthen the competitive advantage of Queensland’s nature-based tourism sector.

Comprehensive information on TIPA is available, including:

Objectives of TIPA

TIPA has six key objectives:

  1. Provide for sustainable nature-based tourism in Queensland’s national parks.
  2. Manage visitor capacity to maximise commercial opportunities through an equitable and transparent process.
  3. Reduce administration for operators.
  4. Improve certainty for industry to foster long-term investment.
  5. Achieve best practice standards in nature-based tourism.
  6. Targeted compliance and monitoring for the benefit of operators, visitors and park managers.

Benefits of TIPA

TIPA will contribute to the better management of national parks and forests by using collaborative site planning to determine and allocate sustainable visitor use. The new system will create the opportunity to identify innovative, well managed and planned nature-based tourism experiences across Queensland’s protected area estate.

It will also create a streamlined and business-oriented system for tour operators by reducing the number of renewals and returns required, and provide longer term certainty by extending length of tenure.

Targeted compliance will focus on ensuring only licensed operators are operating in TIPA areas.

Implementation of TIPA

TIPA will be implemented in a staged approach by 2013 at:

TIPA may apply at other areas in the future depending on use, investment required in visitor infrastructure, the natural and cultural values of the area, demand for access and input from the tourism industry.

More information is available in the Transferring from an Existing Commercial Activity Permit to a Commercial Activity Agreement fact sheet (PDF, 462K)*.

Fees

It has been agreed that capacity-based pricing is not an effective arrangement for industry in the long term and is not the most efficient method of addressing latency concerns.

As such, fees will continue to be based on passengers actually carried by an operator. Fees applicable under Commercial Activity Permits will apply under Commercial Activity Agreements.

Eco-accreditation and TIPA

Accreditation has been a longstanding issue at both a state and national level. State and federal strategies, including the National Long-term Tourism Strategy, have supported greater recognition of accreditation programs.

Many tour operators currently working within protected area sites are already eco-accredited and demonstrate a commitment to best practice business operations and minimal impact on the natural environment. The requirement for all operators who access TIPA sites to be eco-accredited demonstrates the importance of these ambitions, given that the areas of operation are national parks of international significance and many are World Heritage listed. Further, ensuring all tourism operations on TIPA sites are eco-accredited will send a strong sustainable tourism message to visitors that tourism activities at these premium sites are operated to best practice standards, thus positioning Queensland as a sustainable tourism destination.  

More information is available in the Eco-accreditation fact sheet (PDF, 437K)*.

Background to TIPA

In the early 2000s, the tourism industry highlighted a range of issues to government that they indicated were hindering the effective operation and development of a best practice and commercially viable nature-based tourism sector. A working group comprised of key Queensland tourism operators, and industry and government representatives considered these issues and developed a range of recommendations. These recommendations are detailed in the following executive summary and more detailed full report.

Many recommendations were incorporated into the  Queensland Tourism Strategy that provides the 10-year vision for a strong and prosperous tourism sector in Queensland. 

Tourism in Protected Areas is a key action of the Queensland Tourism Strategy and the more recent Queensland Tourism Action Plan to 2012.

Most recently, the Department of Environment and Resource Management has been working with the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, Tourism Queensland, and the Queensland Tourism Industry Council with a view to adopting a contemporary and best-practice approach to nature-based tourism informed by the recommendations of the early TIPA working group.

* Requires Adobe Reader

Last updated 17 February 2012

Tourism Tools

Topics in this site