Draw of nature key to new tourism opportunities in Albany as rural landholders prepare to diversify

A desire to make the most of his property in Youngs Siding has led Jason Fowler to be one of the first to explore the chance to set up a low-impact tourism venture in a rural area of the shire.

A new City of Albany policy, endorsed by the council in December and set to shortly come into effect, will allow landholders in rural and priority agriculture-zoned areas, like Mr Fowler, to establish low-impact tourism ventures on their properties.

The policy has been set out to encourage a greater diversity of accommodation within the shire and to cater for tourists looking for lower-cost options set in natural settings.

Mr Fowler had cleared areas within his property’s extensive plantation to establish camp sites which he welcomed guests to stay at through the Hipcamp accommodation platform.

He only operated the sites for a short period before being informed by the City he needed approval to run such an operation.

“So we approached some of the councillors and asked them to work on a camping policy on agricultural land,” he said.

“We had a meeting at Youngs Siding and the councillors agreed to start working on it.

“The Shire of Denmark are already well down that path, Margaret River has already done it, Esperance has already done it — there is a lot of agricultural land in Albany which could be used in this way.”

The six camp sites that have so far been cleared within the property’s abundant blue gums vary in size and capacity, but they all have one thing in common — privacy.

It was that trait that helped the camp sites quickly gain popularity during the two months they were open to guests.

Mr Fowler said there had been a lot of positive reviews from Perth residents who wanted to escape for a weekend.

“They didn’t want caravan parks, they didn’t want to be parked next to somebody,” he said.

“You can camp down here in complete isolation and it’s just the birds and bees around you.”

He described the sites as having “clouds of birds” around them in the morning as part of a forest teeming with wildlife.

Whereas down here it’s just that bit further and a lot of people really want to get out and have a real nature experience. Down here we’ve got it in spades really.

Mr Fowler believes the attraction of wanting to get back to nature presented growing opportunities for low-impact tourism in Albany and the Great Southern.

“What you are seeing is areas on the west coast like Margaret River and Augusta are getting very crowded and they’re still close to Perth,” he said.

“Whereas down here it’s just that bit further and a lot of people really want to get out and have a real nature experience.

“Down here we’ve got it in spades really.”

The policy will officially come into effect once the City’s new local planning scheme is gazetted, but Mr Fowler is already well on his way to completing the paperwork required to get started again.

He has plans to build a central amenities block, a total of 10 camp sites and meandering pathways to link it all together.

He said he would primarily welcome visitors during spring and summer and shut the sites down during winter.

Mr Fowler and his family have only had the property for about two years after he felt a desire to return to the region he grew up in.

“I spent 30 years up north in Broome and Darwin and I got sick of the heat so I wanted to get back down here,” he said.

“I think that’s true for plenty of tourists as well.”