Gloucester, Bicentennial tree climb closures hit Pemberton region hard as tourists go elsewhere

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Tourism operators fear the closure of WA's famous climbing trees could be costing the region millions of dollars. The iconic trees have been shut to climbers for months and local businesses are demanding answers as visitors bypass the southwest town of Pemberton.

Transcript

00:00 About 60 metres tall, this karri tree towers above the rest.

00:06 For decades, tourists have been coming from all over the world to climb the Gloucester

00:10 tree to the top.

00:11 It was quite exciting because you're looking at all these peaks that you've got to make

00:17 your way up.

00:18 And initially there's that rush of energy and you're climbing up in the tree and then

00:21 start looking down and you're thinking, "Can I do this?"

00:24 According to local authorities, no one's ever fallen from the tree.

00:28 The Gloucester tree and the nearby Bicentennial tree have been closed to climbers for months,

00:33 as experts work to make the structures safe.

00:36 And tourism operators say the economic impact is being felt.

00:39 It'll be into the hundreds of thousands, at least, if not millions.

00:45 As international tourists turn their back on the town.

00:49 And we are hearing it from operators adjacent to Pemberton that they are actually looking

00:55 at changing their itinerary and staying in other towns longer.

00:59 It's a further blow for the Southern Forests region.

01:02 We've copped a few hits of late with the deregulation of dairy, deregulation of potatoes, closing

01:09 of the native forestry.

01:10 So we really have been thrown into tourism quite heavily.

01:14 The state government is committed to reopening these climbing trees at some stage.

01:18 It's just not clear when that will be.

01:20 And if they do reopen, it could be a totally different climbing experience.

01:25 Yeah, I think there's options to look at, you know, replacement of a lookout platform

01:30 at the top of the trees versus a partial climbing option.

01:36 The Gloucester tree experience has always been free.

01:39 In its place, a high ropes course for $65 a head.

01:42 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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