TOURISM CRISIS…what crisis?
Crisis? What Crisis? The ballroom that is Port Douglas’s tourism sector is seeing a lot of ball bearings rolled onto the dance floor.
Its hardly news to the world, given the front page of today’s Courier Mail, and just about every front page of the Australian this week, that Michael no-longer-the King’s MFS, is in deep trouble. With MFS owning some 40%, some say more, of the bed rights in Port Douglas, along with a small and insignificant lot of land known as the Sheraton Mirage, clearly things are not all rosy in resort paradise.
But as if MFS’s woes are not enough, as they try to gain the cred needed to dig deeper into debt, at a time when credit is looking as free flowing as water in the desert, both creditors and investors are getting nervous, whilst MFS Chairman Andrew Peacock tries to rearrange his rather ruffled feathers.
And as if the empty town syndrome of February isn’t depressing enough, to have, on top of this, the many contractors of town, dashing for their debt recovery lawyers, is hardly what we would hope for, in the more peaceful off-season.
Since the hammering of the pilot strikes of the 80s’, the tourism operators of Douglas have repetitively regrouped, shackled together as a team, and got on with it. The current incarnation of this grouping, is the renaissance Port Douglas and Daintree Tourism Ltd, which, with some friends in Council like the writer, Rod Davis, has seen a sizable budget increase and a very successful managerial reorganization, which, well, kicks butt.
But a cloud hangs not only over MFS issues but also, the PDDT. Despite my spirited attempts, the Douglas Shire refused to update the PDDT’s contract to its 3 year term, leaving less than 17 months, maybe 2 years income assurance ahead.
The question sitting before us, and at the feet of folk like Kevin Byrne and Val Shier, is whether Cairns will introduce a tourism levy, to do as Douglas does, with Douglas’s $400K pa donation to the PDDT. Privately, I understand KB favors the levy, and Val is looking at it. As the guy behind the drive to almost double the PDDT’s income, I have more interest than most in insuring the PDDT’s survival, both in terms of continued funding, and the PDDT’s self autonomy.
Doug Ryan, energetic CEO of the PPDT, indicates that Stella, the tourism arm of MFS, continues to trade soundly, and all its bill’s are being met, as negotiations are underway for MFS to sell Stella, complete with all its sub brands, as one entity. Tony Cannon, The Ray Groups’ Port Douglas manager, reports that his subbies have been asked to suspend, not terminate works. Tony gets as much info from the press, as he does internal sources, as the doors around MFS affairs are not exactly wide open.
So its very much all about suspended animation. Will MFS sell Stella without drama?
Will Cairns continue to offer the PDDT’s operators a viable income source, and a good degree of autonomy, or is the PDDT about to be absorbed into TTQ’s machinery, and its funding expired ?
Will Port Douglas’s best designed Bale projects kick on? Will the world financial crisis sideswipe all these machinations? As the big chill freezes the homeward bound Chinese workers, at the same time the Federal Reserves blows its reserves to keep America’s debt addiction fueled, and as above 3% inflation, forces Australian interest rates in the opposite direction to US rates, we are indeed moving into uncharted waters, and the HMAS Douglas Shire, as always, is at the head of the fleet.
It may sound a bit self serving, but this is no time for Douglas to be lead by basket weavers, bureaucrats or those with little tourism experience. Whilst I’m not immune from a past of financial storms, I have at least been in the deep end of tourism, banking and government games long enough to know what is going on, outside of potholes and garbage collection, and if you want my professional profile , try http://roddavis.org/rodsblog/who-is-rod-davis/ and for my views and background in tourism, try, http://roddavis.org/rodsblog/tourism/ .
Douglas has made it through rougher seas than this before…. Crisis, what crisis? We are competent and resilient here in Douglas, and we are not being taken down by amalgamation or an MFS, and infact, we in Douglas are likely to help solve MFS’s problems by the sale of Stella, as well as lifting the tourism promotion business in Cairns itself, by having Cairns rise to the occasion, with its own Douglas style levy
February 1st, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Hi Rod good story how about those of us who are not up with the abreviations
MFS and Stella.
Cheers Brian
February 1st, 2008 at 10:31 pm
I knew a guru once. He laughed when I told him about rental problems. He said
“Ha….. the landlord does not exist “
February 2nd, 2008 at 12:25 am
From his comments, Brian R Searle does not appear to be even remotely connected to the tourism industry in Queensland; own a strata titled unit branded Mantra or Breakfree; read the share pages or read the newspapers too closely of late or he would be well aware of the MFS group. If so, he would also realise that ‘Stella’ is not an abbreviation. Perhaps we can forgive Brian’s ignorance if he’s not from Queensland (or a ‘basket weaver’) although it begs the question how he found Rod’s web page if he doesn’t have some interest in the trials and tribulations of the Douglas Shire and matters affecting its residents and visitors.
Like it or not, mainstream tourism is the crux of the village’s existence and has been since the long gone halcyon days [tongue-in-cheek] of Pixie Skase cruising down Macrossan Street in a golf buggy waving at her plebian subjects…..
Come one Brian, and others like you - as I don’t wish to sound critical of one individual: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. Rod’s page is a beginning - not an end - and should be used as a jumping off point for further individual enquiry and investigation and not necessarily as definitive answer to all the questions.
Take individual responsibility and use what, at least on the face of it, is an excellent forum for all Douglas Shire residents to take Rod’s lead and actively join the debate(s). Sqeaky wheels get the most attention! Love him or loathe him (and there are lots who’ve engaged in heated arguments with him over the years), Rod’s web page is an impressive demonstration of his intellect; overall grasp of the region’s problems and willingness to engage the wider community regardless of the potential detriment of doing so so.
I’m no longer a resident of the shire’s immediate environs so, irrespective of the volcanic eruptions concerning Qld council amalgamations, I couldn’t contribute to Rod’s Council aspirations even if I wanted to so these are the comments of nothing more than an interested observer.
Nonetheless- back to the seemingly less than stellar performance of Stella - be careful not to confuse body corporate expenditure with that of the caretaker. One, the body corporate, is a collective of owners in a strata titled complex expending levy monies raised (administrative or sinking funds) in accordance with legislative requirements. The other, the caretaker, buys management rights and is formally and contractually engaged to look after the common property of the body corporate for an annual remuneration. Therefore, if you are talking about local tradies not being paid or being concerned about whether or not they will received payment for their services, it would seem logical to assume that any concerns in that area result from the recent public difficulties of MFS/Stella and would reasonably be limited to any new development (ie Bale) rather than to the established properties with a division of the MFS group as its caretaker.
There are many, owners included, who take little or no interest in the complexities of strata title ownership and it leads to many, many misunderstandings in this area.