Annual Parrtjima festival helping to boost struggling tourism sectors

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Alice Springs was awash with colour this week as part of the annual Parrtjima Light Festival. The event attracts visitors from all over giving local businesses a much needed boost. But with more and more shops being forced to close, and fewer events each year, tourism operators are questioning whether it's enough to keep communities afloat.

Transcript

00:00Backdrops don't get much more breathtaking than this.

00:06Rolling red escarpments, stunning desert landscape and clear blue skies.

00:12Add in the cultural significance of the heart of Australia and people here in Alice Springs

00:17say it should be on everyone's travel to-do list.

00:20Look, this is a pilgrimage.

00:23You've got to do it once in a lifetime because the experience is unique.

00:28I mean, there's blackfellas all over the country doing cultural tourism,

00:31but there's something very special.

00:34We're in the heart of the nation.

00:36We have, you know, Uluru just up the road.

00:39This place has so many significant landscape markings and stories

00:45which you wouldn't hear or you wouldn't see anywhere else in the world.

00:50While the annual Pajima Festival of Life draws a healthy crowd to the Red Centre,

00:54tourism operators say one event alone isn't enough.

00:58Times are tough in the outback town with a reputation for anti-social behaviour

01:03and the cost of travel taking a toll.

01:06The cost of flights is horrendous.

01:08So that's a big no-no for tourists looking to come here.

01:12So they might see a flight that's cheaper to go direct to Uluru.

01:16So they'll just do that option instead and they just do that and fly out

01:19and then they tick Central Australia off the box.

01:21So that's a massive thing.

01:23The other thing is a lot of Australians are now going overseas.

01:26So they're actually going overseas for their holidays rather than touring within Australia.

01:30So that takes a lot of people out.

01:32So there is a lot of impediments to tourism here in town.

01:37Despite the challenges, the operators we spoke to were optimistic better times are ahead.

01:44They want to see all levels of government do more to help those who've stuck it out to stay in the game.

01:50There's capacity there to support us a little bit more

01:53and I think that gives us the confidence then to improve our product

01:57and offer better options to people who are coming through

02:01and hopefully they'll stay a bit longer, they'll have a look around, they'll fall in love with the country

02:05just the same as what we have.

02:07Having a red-hot crack in the red centre.

02:10See you then.

02:11You

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