BYRON Bay is expected to continue attracting strong tourism growth as Asia's middle class expands, demographer Simon Kuestenmacher told the Destination Byron annual tourism symposium last week.<\/p>\n
But he said the region would also continue to face significant challenges, with the high cost of housing contributing to persistent shortages of hospitality workers.<\/p>\n
Kuestenmacher, co-founder and director of Melbourne-based The Demographics Group, said Australia was regarded as a safe destination by Asian travellers.<\/p>\n
He said Byron Bay could expect more visitors from countries such as India, China and the Philippines, driven in part by strong migration from those nations, with many migrants bringing visiting relatives to destinations such as Byron Bay.<\/p>\n
But he warned the town would continue to suffer from "the curse of paradise", with increased migration to the region since the COVID-19 pandemic pushing up house prices and making it increasingly difficult for the predominantly low-income tourism workforce to afford local housing.<\/p>\n
"That's not going to get any easier," he said. "You can rely to a certain degree on local teenagers, but they leave once they turn 18 and go to bigger cities, partner up and only return \u2013 if they can afford to \u2013 later in life when they have school-aged children."<\/p>\n
While Australians often like to think of the country as egalitarian, Kuestenmacher said that was a 1960s idea.<\/p>\n
Instead, he said, Australia now has a U-shaped economy, with growing numbers of high-income and low-income earners, and a shrinking middle class.<\/p>\n
"That may work in Byron's favour because you have luxury travellers where price doesn't really matter," he said.<\/p>\n
"But that can't sustain your local kayaking operator \u2013 you need a very broad base of ongoing customers. That's a challenge."<\/p>\n
Kuestenmacher said Byron Bay remained a fantastic tourism destination with a strong domestic brand, but was facing an identity crisis as it transformed from an alternative, surf and hippie niche into "a fancy Hemsworth pretending to be a hippy".<\/p>\n
"There's a lot of soul searching that needs to be done to figure out what they are and what they want to be," he said.<\/p>\n
More than 150 people attended the Destination Byron symposium at the Byron Community Centre. This year's theme was Naturally Byron: Growing a World-Class Visitor Economy.<\/p>\n
Other speakers included Rebecca Masci, director of marketing at the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organising Committee; STR business development manager Paul Hammond; and Reflections Holidays CEO Nick Baker.<\/p>\n
Destination Byron also outlined how it plans to use the $200,000 Regional Night-Time Economy Program grant it secured from the NSW government earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Alongside a dedicated marketing campaign for Byron Shire in 2026\u201327, the funding will support the creation of Byron Fest, a new mid-winter festival planned for June 2027. The event will feature experiences centred on arts and culture, sustainability, wellbeing, food and beverage, and entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BYRON Bay is expected to continue attracting strong tourism growth as Asia's middle class expands, demographer Simon Kuestenmacher told the Destination Byron annual tourism symposium last week. But he said the region would also continue to face significant challenges, with the high cost of housing contributing to persistent shortages of hospitality workers. Kuestenmacher, co-founder and […]<\/p>\n