A recent report commissioned by Local Government NSW and co-funded by NSW Department of Industry, NSW Family and Community Services, LGNSW and the University of Technology Sydney shows that the inclusive tourism market is growing rapidly.
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$8.9bn was spent on overnight or day trips in Australia by people with a disability, older people or young families in the period from January to March 2017.
The news will not surprise Sunset Kiosk owners at Merimbula’s Top Lake, Robby Robertson and Peter McCarthy, who already know the value of the market and are delighted to have been awarded a significant grant to help make their cafe and boating facility more inclusive.
The cafe hires small motorised boats mainly used for fishing, kayaks and pedeloes.
“The grant is from the NSW Roads and Maritime Service, under the Boating Now program. The whole idea is to replace the existing jetty but with the same footprint and at the end have a floating pontoon to provide wheelchair access and better accessibility for those groups of people who need it,” Mr McCarthy said.
The current fixed jetty means that getting into and out of boats can be a problem for some people, depending on the tide.
The real driver is the number of disabled people we have visiting the cafe.
- Peter McCarthy, Sunset Kiosk, Merimbula
“The aim is to be inclusive and to provide more opportunities for people to access the water,” Mr Robertson added.
“The jetty is due for replacement; it’s maybe more than 20 years old and gets covered during a king tide,” Mr Robertson explained.
The funding will also allow the installation of a davit arm, located at the end of the jetty that will allow a severely disabled people to be lifted in and out of a boat.
“The real driver is the number of disabled people we have visiting the cafe. We get a lot of disabled groups visit us and have a regular group from Queanbeyan that come here and who we have to manage on and off the boats,” Mr McCarthy said.
He said they had taken advice from local access and inclusion advocates Ron Finneran and Chris Sparks and thanked them for their help saying they had discussed the plans at length.
They are currently waiting on detailed designs and then a DA will have to be submitted to the Crown and also to council but the owners hope to have the new jetty and pontoon in place ready for next summer.
They have already built a disabled toilet and changing area.
The owners said they were grateful to Darren Hulm, senior safety boating officer with the RMS.
“He pointed us in the right direction and was instrumental in us getting the RMS funding,” Mr McCarthy said.
The $198,500 funding will be for the installation of a new pontoon, gangway, piles and crane to enable wheelchair access to the lake.
Other successful projects across the Bega Valley include:
$485,000 to be used at the Bermagui River Boat Ramp to replace the current single lane with a reinforced double lane ramp, install a pontoon and formalize the current car parking facilities.
$390,000 has been allocated to the Blackfellows Lake Boat Ramp to upgrade the current informal ramp to a concrete ramp, a pontoon, lighting and formalized car parking and access road.
$155,000 for upgrades to the pontoon at Quarantine Bay Boat Ramp to improve capacity and usability, reducing congestion faced by users of the current facilities.
