Just over half of tourists who visit the Hunter Valley say they would be turned off from the area if AGL moved forward with coal seam gas exploration, according to a new survey.
The region attracts close to 2.3 million overnight visitors a year but 63% said they would consider boycotting the area during a survey conducted over two weekends by the Hunter Valley Tourist Centre.
The survey also found that 80% of respondents were against gas wells in the wine and tourism hub with the main concerns cited as the environment and pollution.
Executive Manager at Hunter Valley Wine Country Tourism, Dean Goddard said the results show that “a checkerboard of drilling sites, droning noise of drills, machinery and high traffic on access roads that comes hand in hand with CSG mining is simply not congruent with the Valley’s tranquil appeal.”
Visitors also showed that they would stop using AGL products if they continued with plans for a mine in the Hunter.
We live in Lovedale and our overseas visitors in particular, are shocked and confused when told that CSG exploration is even a possibility in the Hunter.
We also find that many friends who live in Sydney are not vocal, because they simply can’t believe that this will go ahead, They argue that we have nothing to worry about because it would be madness to grant anyone permission to poke into such a sensitive and valuable environment. I am sad to say that I can absolutely guarantee us losing overseas visitors (who tour the wineries, eat locally and book accomodation) if this were to go ahead and that there would be a massive backlash against AGL locally,