Cape York Camping Punsand Bay and Punsand Bay Aviation’s Jack Colquhoun with a group of happy customers. Photos: Supplied.
Operators hope the allure of a bucket list Cape York trip will result in solid visitation as the tourism season begins, despite high fuel prices.
Roads have opened after an extended wet season, the Jardine Ferry is operational and drawcard events are on the horizon.
Some tourism businesses are still tackling repairs after Cyclone Narelle, but most are taking bookings or will open shortly.
Tourism Tropical North Queensland (TTNQ) has been tempering expectations, but is working to help attract a reasonable flow of visitors from May-October.
Fuel prices have increased somewhat, but Cape prices were already comparatively high.
Cape York Camping Punsand Bay’s Jack, Kahlia and Leroy Colquhoun.
TTNQ CEO Mark Olsen said trends showed inland Queensland and outback NSW routes typically used by the long-haul drive visitor market were down at least 40 per cent year-on-year.
“This is flowing into significantly slower forward bookings and much higher cancellations for the independent drive market for Cape York this year, while tour groups appear to be holding,” he said.
“TTNQ is currently rolling out a drive campaign with Cape York, including the Daintree and Cape Tribulation, and the Gulf featured in it.”
Kahlia and Jack Colquhoun, the couple behind Cape York Camping Punsand Bay and Punsand Bay Aviation, are thrilled to welcome guests.
“We’re excited for the season ahead, prepped and ready to go,” Ms Colquhoun said.
“We’ve got our first lot of guests this week, which has been fantastic.”
Cape York Camping Punsand Bay is about 5 km southwest of ‘The Tip’.
Ms Colquhoun said there had been “a lot of cancellations with the fuel crisis”, but she was still expecting the campground near “The Tip” to be fairly busy.
“We’re trying to stay really positive. There’s lots of incredible people that have been calling saying they’re still coming,” she said.
“I guess we’re just trying to advocate that Cape York’s still open, we’re still operating – we’re excited.”
