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Northern Territory tourism operators have expressed dismay that Kakadu National Park's managers have delayed opening some of its premier waterfall and swimming hole attractions during peak season because crocodile surveys have not yet been completed.
- Kakadu tourism operators have been hit with late closure news about some sites in the park
- Parks Australia says unfinished crocodile surveys at this time are unavoidable
- Industry body Tourism Top End says it fears the delay could have a knock-on effect to other NT attractions
Greig Taylor has been running four-wheel-drive safari tours in the World Heritage-listed park for 26 years.
He said he was dismayed he could not take the group he was guiding there this week to see some of the park's most spectacular sites and swimming holes.
Mr Taylor said he had sold tours to those key sites for the coming weeks, but now would not be able to deliver them.
"Kakadu has sent us, with no pre-warning, new advice for key visitor sites like Maguk, Jim Jim Falls and Twin Falls that they are delaying opening them," he said.
"These sites are not only key sites for our groups, but everybody visiting Kakadu National Park; so as a result of that we had to move into damage control and advise our pre-existing bookings that they won't have those sites on their bookings.
"We've been informed that the sites have been kept closed because crocodile surveys haven't been completed, we're saying to Kakadu.
"They need to put more resources towards making sure they can complete these surveys every year before the school holidays because we're into the school holidays start now, which is normally our busiest week, and now we are told we are going to have the latest opening of these sites in history."
Every year after the Top End's wet season, it takes weeks for federal government agency Parks Australia — which manages Kakadu jointly with traditional owners — to rid the park's waterfalls and swimming holes of crocodiles and upgrade its gravel roads.
Mr Taylor said he had been informed some sites may not be open for four weeks.
"We've been threatened with cancellations by some of our customers, just as the business is trying to recover from COVID lockdowns," he said.
"It's already pretty tight this year, so we can't afford to lose any bookings. So this is causing us and other operators a lot of stress and anxiety."
Tourism operators have been frustrated for years with the federal government's attention to keeping roads and infrastructure maintained to keep sites at the park open.
They have also been worried by a stoush between the government and traditional owners, over the Commonwealth's refusal to pay compensation for building a walkway too close to a sacred site at Gunlom Falls, which has kept that popular swimming spot closed.
"Kakadu's always been the NT's jewel in the crown and that's what draws people to Darwin," Mr Taylor said.
"This gives Kakadu a bad rap, and we've seen over the years that as those closures have extended, the NT's tourism season has actually become more condensed.
"With these sites only open now between three and four months of a year, our season is getting shorter and shorter, so it's really impacting on the broader tourist industry."
NT government figures show tourism is the NT's biggest employing industry, indirectly employing 12 per cent of the territory's workforce.
Many sectors in the tourism industry are already experiencing fewer visitors this year.
The general manager of industry body Tourism Top End, Glen Hingley, said Kakadu's management needed to give tourists certainty.
"Particularly for international visitors, and 40 per cent of our visitors are usually from overseas, it is very important to be able to give them confidence to book," he said.
"Big bureaucracies and especially federal agencies sometimes are challenged with understanding the commercial reality versus the 'business as usual' mentality.
"We have established a much better relationship with Parks Australia over the last few years, but it has dropped the ball."
Mr Hingley said in previous years when the opening of key sites in Kakadu had been delayed, the impacts had been felt throughout the industry.
"Whether that's other attractions, restaurants, hotels in Darwin, passengers getting off the Ghan, visitors starting or finishing expeditions from cruise ships into Darwin, Kakadu's always been a key part of that," he said.
In a statement, Parks Australia said some of the delays had occurred because it had taken longer this year than some other years for wet season water levels to drop.
The department said it tried to provide as much certainty as possible to industry, but factors including crocodile detections meant that was not always possible.
"While we aim to provide as much certainty as possible to industry around opening dates through the Kakadu Access Report and regular newsletters, it is not always possible to put exact timing when sites will be accessible due to both natural and operational factors, such as water levels and rainfall, and crocodile detections at key sites," the statement said.
"Traditional owners have also requested access to a limited number of sites in advance of the general public."
Mr Hingley said it was important to stress that there were beautiful parts of Kakadu that were already open.
"If you were in Kakadu today, you'd be amazed at the rock art at Ubirr, you'd be out on the water at Yellow Water seeing lots of crocodiles and birds, [seeing] the rock art at Nourlangie Rock or having cultural tour experiences, so there's plenty to do and plenty to see," he said.
Some tourists visiting the NT from interstate told the ABC they were disappointed to find that some of the waterfalls in Kakadu were closed.
"It was a very long drive and we missed the waterfalls and things because they were closed; it would have been nice to see some water," a Brisbane tourist said.
But others said they were still wowed by what Kakadu had to offer.
"We did the river cruise and we saw the crocodiles, which was exactly what we were there for, and we saw the rock art," a visitor from Sydney said.
"The guide did tell us they hadn't been able to open everything up, but that didn't affect us."