Calls to rethink Byron Bay tourism before it’s too late

AS BYRON Bay grapples with growing issues of overtourism, a community forum held on Tuesday night heard calls for a stronger focus on regenerative tourism and Indigenous cultural experiences.

The Let’s Talk: Tourism online event, organised by The Greens, brought together local voices concerned about the future of tourism in Byron Bay.

They included Bundjalung woman and Byron Shire councillor Delta Kay, who founded the Indigenous tour company Explore Byron Bay.

Kay highlighted the lack of visibility and representation of Aboriginal businesses in the town.

“There’s no shopfronts owned by an Aboriginal person and I think that’s something we need to work towards – having more visual Aboriginal businesses in our town,” she said.

Kay also expressed a desire to see a cultural centre established in Byron Bay.

“The Bundjalung of Byron Bay Aboriginal Corporation (Arakwal) own the land, we just need some money to get it up,” she said. “What a bonus it would be for Byron Bay to have an accessible cultural centre.”

NSW Greens tourism spokesperson and Member for Ballina Tamara Smith said overtourism was a global problem, citing recent tensions in Barcelona where frustrated locals have reportedly begun spraying tourists with water pistols.

Byron Bay currently receives around two million visitors each year — a number projected to nearly double to four million by 2030 if current trends continue, according to Byron Shire Council’s Draft Byron Shire Sustainable Visitation Strategy 2020–2030.

Smith said the housing crisis driven by short-term rentals was also a pressing concern, particularly for locals working in essential and low-paid sectors such as hospitality.

She said that other MPs across Australia were closely watching Byron Bay’s push to introduce a cap on short-term rentals.

Having travelled extensively in places such as Tasmania, Hawaii and Canada, Ms Smith said many popular tourist destinations place limits on tourism numbers.

“All around the world best practice is to limit impacts on the natural environment because otherwise it won’t be there for future generations,” she said.

While sustainable tourism seeks to maintain the status quo, Smith said the region should shift towards regenerative tourism — experiences that allow visitors to actively improve the places they visit through activities such as tree planting or rubbish collection.

Let’s Talk is a regular series, with a different topic and guest speaker each month.