General News
16 April, 2025
More education needed about our region, says remote operator
Tourists are not coming to places like Burketown simply because they don't understand the geography.
Yagurli Tours operations boss Peter Ridley says there is incredible market growth potential for Gulf tourism if it can overcome the perception issues among tourists.
The Burketown-based tourism provider oversees a fishing charter, cultural tours and hot air balloon business that has increased its capital investment to include additional boats, mini-buses and 4WDs in the recent years in anticipation of future tourist numbers.
Mr Ridley said the additional equipment was purchased in response to repeated travellers not wanting to take their expensive vehicles and caravans off road.
“We can now pick them out and take them out on the tours – in the past, they had to follow us,” he said.
The business has also established a hot air balloon operation that travels the country during the off season to promote the Gulf region at numerous air shows.
He said internal research had shown more than 95 per cent of tourists travelling to Burketown were Australian, and of these, more than 60 per cent were from Queensland.
He said this research indicated there was strong growth potential to increase the customer base.
“We spent this additional money because we believe there is a strong future in the Gulf,” he said.
However, he acknowledged there were problems with tourists believing the region cannot be easily navigated.
Mr Ridley said he believed the perception problems could not be addressed until there was stronger regional collaboration and more resilient infrastructure to recover faster from wet seasons.
He said the tourism season across the Gulf had shrunk to only about three months a year, which was not economically sustainable for most operators.
“We are currently getting about 80 per cent of our business in June, July and August,” he said.
“If we had better infrastructure, I think we would be able to stretch the tourist season a little longer.
“There is a misconception that people don’t want to get caught in a flooded Burketown – but we really only get the majority of rain in January through to about March.
“Somehow we need people to understand they don’t necessarily need a four-wheel drive to come to Burketown and there is more bitumen and more bridges and more level crossings to travel on.”