Ben O’Shea: No easy answer to overcrowding as NIMBYs ignore the benefits of South West tourism

Alleged overtourism in the State’s South West has prompted calls to cap visitor numbers in places such as Dunsborough. The people making those calls are, unsurprisingly, disgruntled locals, whose rhetoric would have you believe overflowing beach car parks are up there with plagues and pestilence as signs of an apocalypse. To be fair, Cool Cabanas stretched out across South West beaches, just like a marauding army of colourful, mini Mind Flayers from the Upside Down, could actually be a herald of the End Times. But it’s not just visitor caps, some locals are also unhappy with new developments that are popping up around the place. Classic NIMBYism. While there’s no doubt tourism has steadily increased in the region, and the permanent population has similarly grown, the idea we’re already at breaking point is a bit of a stretch. Just like Busselton Jetty CEO Lisa Shreeve using the jetty in the same sentence as Rome’s Trevi Fountain, when it comes to tourism drawcards. “When you go to places around the world like the Trevi Fountain and you see 10,000 people standing there, it really impacts your experience if you have to be so congested,” Shreeve said in a recent interview. Not even the Crooked Carrot at lunch time is in danger of getting to Trevi Fountain levels of overtourism in the near future, so let’s all take a breath. That’s certainly the feedback online, as punters on Reddit pushed back against suggestions the South West is in danger of imminent collapse. One user was in Dunsborough two weeks ago and tried to introduce some perspective to the debate. “Compared to anywhere on the coast of NSW it was a ghost town,” they wrote. Others took aim at the NIMBYs. “Those giant mansions and holiday homes ruined it for the tens of thousands of families who had affordable accommodation at all the caravan parks, now only the rich can afford to holiday down there and it’s totally killed the vibe,” one user posted. As for strategies to reduce tourism, well, trust the internet to have an answer. “Get the Bunbury Council on to it. That’s their speciality,” one user quipped. Overtourism is a very real problem in many parts of the world, from Barcelona to Kyoto, but there’s no easy answer. Authorities struggle to balance the commercial interests of local business, which often thrive, with a need to preserve the amenity of these areas for the people who call them home. What we have in the South West, however, is not overtourism. It’s a mildly inconvenient seasonal influx. That’s not to say it isn’t a pain in the butt. It undoubtedly is. But improving the odd bottleneck here and there isn’t going to happen by acting like the sky is falling down. Tourism brings in a billion dollars per annum to this region, and the downstream benefits of that far outweigh the annoyance of fighting to find a parking spot one month out of the year.