'Car campers who ransack the Outback’ is the headline of a recent article in the South Australian Advertiser. The story highlights the destructive habits of some four-wheel-drive visitors to the state’s Outback. The picture presented is one of stripping hundred-year-old trees of firewood, plundering historic sites, criss-crossing untouched landscapes off existing tracks, strewing the environment with rubbish, and the unsightly evidence of poor toileting practices.

Low-impact, self-sufficient travellers.

Far from being a wild frontier to be conquered, the ‘Outback’ is seen as a fragile environment where the ever-increasing flow of visitors in four-wheel-drives are destroying the resource they have come to experience.

The same concerns are reflected by the anecdotal stories from locals living along the tracks about bad visitor experiences. Gates left open, stock disturbed, privacy ignored, environmental degradation at popular sites, and a general disregard for common sense behaviour. Seen in this light, tourism as an appropriate and desirable activity throughout the Basin gets a poor scorecard.

This view represents the attitudes and actions of only a small percentage of the large numbers who now travel through many parts of the Basin. The vast majority of travellers do behave responsibly. If they do transgress, it is more often out of ignorance than intent. Most of those seeking the aura of the Outback have little knowledge and understanding of old-fashioned bush skills and manners.

To many it is a new experience. Their actions and attitudes are often misled by the presentation of the Outback as a vast empty space were there are no rules and little realization it is someone else’s backyard. Equally damaging is the stereotyped image, held by some Outback locals, of the tourists as troublesome pests. There is a strong need for better information and education on both sides.

The picture is not as bad as it seems though. In key sectors such as along the Matilda Highway corridor in mid-west Queensland, Alice Springs and Central Australia, and the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, tourism is well established. It is integral to the economic well-being of those regions and ranks as one of the most important industries. For the most, it has been embraced by the local communities and there is a general striving to increase visitor numbers. For these regions the challenge is how to promote their destinations, improve the range and quality of services offered, upgrade the infrastructure to meet the demands and pressures of increasing visitation, and to maximise the benefits.

There has been a growing interest and commitment by a range of agencies, local government, industry organizations, and individual stakeholders to meet these challenges and develop and implement appropriate strategies.

A good example is a recent initiative by the Northern Region Development Board in South Australia that has brought together a diverse group of tourism interests in the Flinders Ranges to establish a tourism cluster approach towards furthering this industry in the region. Many of those involved have been actively engaged in pastoralism and are now diversifying into tourist activities. The opportunity to share experiences, gain new insights and form collaborative approaches to resolving common problems has been enthusiastically embraced.

The biggest issues with tourism in the Basin remain in the heartland. The Oodnadatta, Birdsville and Strzelecki tracks, Lake Eyre, Plenty Highway, Simpson Desert, Innamincka Regional Reserve, Diamantina Lakes, and the Channel Country are just a few of the focal points. They encompass fragile and important areas and managing the increasing tourism flows in a sustainable way is a major aspect of the Lake Eyre Basin Heritage Tourism Strategy. It will present a strategic framework that if embraced by the key stakeholders should go a long way to minimising the concerns expressed in articles such as the Advertiser.