NATIONAL Parks and Wildlife conducted compliance checks recently after reports of unlicensed tour operators conducting tours on the mountain.
A spokesperson for the Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation said together with the police they conducted compliance activities within the Joalah section Tamborine National Park to ensure commercial tour operators had valid permits.
“Three people had valid permits that allowed them to conduct commercial tours. Two people who did not have a valid permit to conduct commercial tours were given a verbal warning and a direction to leave the national park immediately,” the spokesperson said.
“To help protect the natural and cultural values of our national parks, tour group operators need a commercial activity permit.
“The permits help prevent overcrowding in our protected areas and ensure the business operations of permitted tour guides are not impacted by those without a permit.”
There are currently 32 commercial tour operators with permits for Tamborine National Park, 28 of those have access to Joalah, and eight have permits to conduct glow-worm tours.
Local tour guide Sonya Underdahl said some operators are dropping customers off to avoid paying commercial fees.
“They use the park, the facilities but avoid paying or applying for a commercial activity permit,” Sonya said.
“In the last few weeks we were seeing over 120 people per night in a very small park due to illegal operators.”
Sonya said the permits are incredibly hard to get and only issued to operators with an excellent environmental and professional record.
She said issuing permits to a vetted number of operators ensured the wildlife were protected and guidelines such as only using red LED torches were abided by.
