Alice Springs was awash with colour this week as part of the annual Parrtjima Light Festival. The event attracts visitors from all over giving local businesses a much needed boost. But with more and more shops being forced to close, and fewer events each year, tourism operators are questioning whether it's enough to keep communities afloat.
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00:00Backdrops don't get much more breathtaking than this.
00:06Rolling red escarpments, stunning desert landscape and clear blue skies.
00:12Add in the cultural significance of the heart of Australia and people here in Alice Springs
00:17say it should be on everyone's travel to-do list.
00:20Look, this is a pilgrimage.
00:23You've got to do it once in a lifetime because the experience is unique.
00:28I mean, there's blackfellas all over the country doing cultural tourism,
00:31but there's something very special.
00:34We're in the heart of the nation.
00:36We have, you know, Uluru just up the road.
00:39This place has so many significant landscape markings and stories
00:45which you wouldn't hear or you wouldn't see anywhere else in the world.
00:50While the annual Pajima Festival of Life draws a healthy crowd to the Red Centre,
00:54tourism operators say one event alone isn't enough.
00:58Times are tough in the outback town with a reputation for anti-social behaviour
01:03and the cost of travel taking a toll.
01:06The cost of flights is horrendous.
01:08So that's a big no-no for tourists looking to come here.
01:12So they might see a flight that's cheaper to go direct to Uluru.
01:16So they'll just do that option instead and they just do that and fly out
01:19and then they tick Central Australia off the box.
01:21So that's a massive thing.
01:23The other thing is a lot of Australians are now going overseas.
01:26So they're actually going overseas for their holidays rather than touring within Australia.
01:30So that takes a lot of people out.
01:32So there is a lot of impediments to tourism here in town.
01:37Despite the challenges, the operators we spoke to were optimistic better times are ahead.
01:44They want to see all levels of government do more to help those who've stuck it out to stay in the game.
01:50There's capacity there to support us a little bit more
01:53and I think that gives us the confidence then to improve our product
01:57and offer better options to people who are coming through
02:01and hopefully they'll stay a bit longer, they'll have a look around, they'll fall in love with the country
02:05just the same as what we have.
02:07Having a red-hot crack in the red centre.
02:10See you then.
02:11You