Sight seeing costs

aussietraveller · Guru

Sight seeing costs

rockylizard · Guru

Gday...

I guess it is "welcome to the peak tourist season" at anywhere that the tourists congregate to soak up the local attractions.

The basis is definitely - what ever the traffic will bear. And the majority of 'travellers' are happy to just pay and soak up the environment of being in 'exotic' places.

There is no answer other than grit the teeth and pay up ... or forego such places and visit the 'natural' attractions.

cheers - John

Dougwe · Chief one feather

I made a decision when In Longreach last year not to visit tourist attraction's like those mentioned anymore as yes I agree, way too exe for me and I was actually disappointed in the Stockman Hall of Fame anyway. I spose with me it was a case of seen one Pioneer way of life, seen them all. Great looking building though. I also gave Quantas a miss as there were a few buses full of kids visiting at the time.

I really love just driving around seeing the local areas now.

Highwayman · Senior Member

Just passed through longreach saw all those touristy things..weighed it up & kept the brass in my pocket ..liked the stagecoachs but I enjoyed watching them.make it affordable & value for money & I'll be in it...but no it won't happen so I'll spend on something I really want to do. Roy

Oma · Guru

We did the sunset cruise up the Thompson Rv & thought that it was good value for money & it is years since we went into the Stockman's & can't remember what is cost, same with the Qantas.

Vic41 · Guru

The School Of Long Distance Education (Formerly School Of The Air) is well worth a visit and not overly expensive, but need to check times and contact them for info see;

https://longreacsde.eq.edu.au/Ourcommunity/PandC/Pages/Tourist-information.aspx

Note: Two tours per morning, but school days only....

-- Edited by Vic41 on Tuesday 3rd of June 2014 08:19:46 PM

chaslib · Senior Member

Have to agree regarding Longreach .... Once is enough and when we did the second round last year i decided a waste of money. We did the package, Qantas, Hall of Fame, Thompson River Sunset Cruise and Station tour .. and the winner is the Heartland Theatre component of the Thompson River Cruise - this is the only tourist thing I would consider again!.. This year however fate had other plans ...our entertainment in Longreach is a new show .... A tragedy .... watching our dollars disappear after a tyre blowout 30klms South has necessitated a prolonged stay here at the Longreach Caravan Park, waiting for Tyres to arrive fom Brisbane. Not 1, not 2, would you believe 3 New Tyres .... actually it was a blessing in disguise, as it made us aware of the condition of one of the other Tyres .... So, was best to bite the bullet and have all the same brand ... Of course they were not available here ! So, hows that for tourism entertainment in Longreach!

Santa · Guru

Natural attractions only for us, forget the tourist traps. biggrin

jetj · Guru

Wow, that's expensive, the attractions and the campfire meal.

delatite · Veteran Member

We both know exactly what you mean. However as a side note this is a worldwide problem. We have been lucky enough to have just travelled Europe and England, and some of the costs are quite astounding, along with extremely large queues.

This is especially so after you take into consideration our exchange rate, which these days is quite poor.

One example was to visit Westminster Cathedral and St Pauls in London, would have cost us the equivalent of about $140, which we chose not to. Whilst iconic tourist attractions we believe we saw less or equally as famous places for much less that are not controlled by English Heritage. English Heritage is simply trying to cash in bigtime as are I feel a large number of the tourism places here nowdays.

So please do not feel alone about being ripped off. It is happening everywhere.

peterblack · Senior Member

hi all. as others have said its a tourist thing if we pay the dosh for the entry they will keep charging wat they like I guess.some I pay up if I really want to look at them others I don't.
its just like price of homes at moment bloody ridiculas but people pay so up up and away they go. just my thoughts.
enjoy

Landfall · Guru

Delatite, not quite everywhere.

We have just returned from China, Japan and Singapore. The cost of visiting places like the Terracotta warriors about $8 each, the Great Wall ZERO, various castles in Japan (Osaka, Koche) about $15ea, the Domes at Gardens by the Bay, Singapore $15ea. Many areas and heritage sites were free.

It is a problem in Australia, not just at Longreach. Greed is now the name of the game.

Ken

GaryKelly · Guru

Ah, yes, greed. That says it all.

Pejay · Guru

You're right Landfall, it is greed, you only have to look at the story on the home page about free camping at Port Macquarie - if the caravan parks lower their prices to a reasonable amount, then people would use them more and not have to free camp. The same goes for tourist attractions, and when we were out at Longreach we sat down and worked out what we thought was value for money and only did a couple of things including the Stockman's Hall of Fame, but not QANTAS - and certainly not paying to go walk on a wing!!! On our upcoming trip out west, we planned to stay in Toowoomba on the way home - van parks too expensive for us, will stay out at Jondaryan Woolshed and enjoy the added atmosphere for about $10 a night cheaper.

NeilandRaine · Guru

If you have a garage sale and try to sell stuff at a high price you wont sell much and you will still have stuff you didn't want left over. With what you do sell at a high price you will make a few bob.
If you lower the prices you will sell more of the stuff you don't want and still make money. Trouble with tourist attractions is they are priced for tourists. The absorb anent prices will attract people who are mainly from overseas or one off visitors. The money through the door from that demographic is the same as it would be if they halved the price and twice as many people came to visit. Here is the catch, twice as many visitors means a lot more staff for cleaning directing etc. Bottom line higher prices mean higher profit due to less staff. I hope this makes sense, it does to me. This is one reason we prefer to visit small town museums or take lots of photos of the great out doors.
The transport museum at Alice is a good tourist attraction, priced right and if you want to give a bit of time it is better still.

Vic41 · Guru

Vic41 wrote:
The School Of Long Distance Education (Formerly School Of The Air) is well worth a visit and not overly expensive, but need to check times and contact them for info see;
https://longreacsde.eq.edu.au/Ourcommunity/PandC/Pages/Tourist-information.aspx
Note: Two tours per morning, but school days only....
.....................................................................................................

For Longreach keep this one in mind, low cost and also helps support a good cause. Bear in mind schooldays mornings only..

Pricing

Adults $10.00

Children $5.00

Concession/student $8.00

Adult groups over 20 $8.00

Family $25.00 (2 Adults & up to four children)

Pricing is subject to change.

Bookings for tours

Tours are run twice daily at 9.00 am and 10.30 am, Monday to Friday; excluding Public holidays and the December-January School Holidays.

Bookings are necessary for large groups only.

Landfall · Guru

An old saying that still applies today:-

It is easier to get $1 off 1 million people than get 1 million dollars off one person.

Ken

beiffe · Guru

What many of these councils can't understand is if the attractions become too expensive then the visitors don't /wont come and then all the businesses in the area loose out.

For me if I was going to visit a town like Longreach to visit these attractions and the cost came to high then I would not go at all.

Regards
Brian

gwb · Senior Member

Look forward to seeing you at the reasonably priced, well run Caboolture Historical Village 70 buildings, 120,000 items on display on 11 acres. Concession entry $9.90 and just up the road from the Caboolture Showgrounds.
Geoff and Bev

neilnruth · Guru

And we agree - it's a great village.

oldbobsbus · Guru

During our 8 week 15k quick tour of 4 states there were a lot of places we would have liked to visit but they wanted an arm and 3 legs to get in so we gave them a BIG miss...

Longreach comes to mind cry

maybe attractions should take a leaf out of one of the attractions we visited...The sign on the way out said...

"A small donation to help with the upkeep of our displays would really be appreciated"

We enjoyed the display so much we all (4 of us) put $20 in the tin..

If there would have been a $10.00 charge to get in we would have also given it a miss...

Oz Gypsy · Veteran Member

gwb wrote:
Look forward to seeing you at the reasonably priced, well run Caboolture Historical Village 70 buildings, 120,000 items on display on 11 acres. Concession entry $9.90 and just up the road from the Caboolture Showgrounds.
Geoff and Bev

Agree, a very interesting place to spend a couple of hours.