This concept was created in 2017 as part of a Promenade Reference Group initiative at that time that I (John Felan) convened.  The group included our newly elected Councillor Brett Olds and representatives of Palm Cove restaurant, transport and accommodation interests.

I’m personally responsible for the input from this group going no further than the first walk-through.  The group unanimously supported the Palm Cove Promenade concept but my remote work commitments at the time took me away for extended periods.

This draft document was created as a consequence of that early walkthrough.

Purpose

This document is about permanently closing Williams Esplanade, Palm Cove to vehicular traffic and in the process creating Palm Cove Promenade.

Overview

Then

In the first half of last century regional farmers in particular chose Palm Cove as their favoured spot for a beach cottage. They were simple timber structures similar to the cottages next to Pete’s Place and the other existing one on the corner of Williams Esplanade and Cedar Rd. A dirt track evolved along the foreshore to facilitate vehicular access to the cottages.

In the 1960’s Cairns Surf Lifesaving Club built their first clubhouse on their current site. There was also some visitor accommodation available along the waterfront including the Calypso Inn, Palm Cove Lodge and The Reef House.

In the early 1980’s Cairns Airport was significantly redeveloped to allow increased domestic air travel capacity as well as international flight arrivals. The opening of the new airport in March 1984 was the prime stimulus for Palm Cove’s contemporary development phase including the redevelopment of The Reef House, construction of Ramada Reef Resort (Imagine Drift), Paradise Village (Paradise on the Beach) and Jewel of the Reef (Alamanda by Lancemore).

All of these properties were, in their own ways, outstanding architectural examples of how tourism accommodation and services could engage comfortably with the local natural and cultural environment with Ramada perhaps the best example.

One of the important influences in Palm Cove’s development at that time was the design and development contributions from architect/designer Leigh Ratcliffe. He considered that designers had a wider responsibility than just meeting the needs of a particular project in which they were involved at the time. One of the outcomes of this approach was the evolution of the original Palm Cove Master Plan which included the paving and contouring of Williams Esplanade for example.

At the time, Leigh Ratcliffe said:
“Many business contemporaries I have spoken to over the years are only considering their own backyard when they develop, and not looking to the surrounding man-made or natural environments. But I see a whole interlocking set of characteristics that make this area magic.”

Now

The question is, who is now initiating and promoting Palm Cove concepts and conversations that address the “interlocking set of characteristics that make this area magic”? Where is the vision for the now and the future?

Typically, it is individuals that have a vision for their tourism and hospitality businesses that create the products or services in a destination. A Local Tourism Associations (LTA) may evolve alongside these businesses to support the mutual interests of members of the LTA in attracting business to the destination.

Successfully operating a small LTA, such as Tourism Palm Cove (TPC), with no paid executive and support staff, is challenging. In the case of TPC that is even more so since Strata Titling became the prominent hospitality accommodation investment model. This was mostly driven by Self Managed Superannuation Funds linked to negative gearing and the 50% capital gains tax (CGT) discount. This became the dominant investment model for hospitality investment in Palm Cove.

Back in the early days of the forerunner to TPC, being the Palm Cove Promotion Association (PCPA), properties such as Reef Retreat, Jewel of the Reef, Ramada, The Reef House, Paradise Village Resort and Eden Coral Coast were all wholly owned and marketed by professional tourism and hospitality businesses.

This meant that when a significant sales opportunity arose for Palm Cove, these properties were able to evaluate the benefits or otherwise of the opportunity through their corporate marketing knowledge and experience, and reach agreement among themselves on the worth or otherwise of the investment opportunity. They could then agree on their respective contributions to the bulk of the funding or in-kind services (such as FOC rooms for famils for example).

Now, because of Strata Titling, individual accommodation units are owned by individual investors often with limited knowledge of the best way to market their own individual properties let alone how they can contribute to marketing the destination as a whole. Also, usually the holders of the Management Rights to individual properties don’t have all of the units in the property that they manage in their Letting Pool. And many (most) of them come from a non marketing background.

Marketing is of course not only about advertising and promotion. Advertising and promotion comes after tailoring products and services to the identified target markets.

There are concerns about the increased traffic along Williams Esplanade. It is a problem now. How about in 5, 10 or 20 years ? Businesses along the esplanade say that there is already significant ‘esplanade rage’ happening with tourist bus set downs and truck deliveries competing with passenger vehicles cruising the strip.

Palm Cove still has time to make an essential decision now that will not only resolve traffic issues into the future but will, in the short term, transform Palm Cove into a really extraordinary and uniquely profitable Australian destination.

It is still possible to permanently close Williams Esplanade to vehicular traffic either for its entire length or just between Cedar Rd and Harpa St. We already know what it feels like because it happens once a month for Palm Cove Markets and for events like Reef Feast and Cairns Airport Ironman and on other occasions.

Initially there will be a cost to Council and for esplanade accommodation properties in some cases reconfiguring their guest reception and management arrangements to receive guests from Amphora St or in some other way for properties which cannot now or in the future access Amphora St.

As well as enhancing Palm Cove’s status within the leisure market this would transform the Cove for the weddings, meetings, incentives and event markets.

Among other things this may include fundamental infrastructure improvements for such things as the erection of temporary marquees for example which may involve in-ground sleeves and anchor points. It may also include provision for lighting and power.

What about parking? Already a big problem in Palm Cove. Most days the 94 parking spaces along the Esplanade are full. Many cars keep driving up and down the Esplanade hoping to find a park and eventually park in Triton St, Harpa St or Cedar Rd. The dedicated parking area behind the jetty seems to only be used as a last resort.

Along with many other popular tourism destinations worldwide, Mossman Gorge had this problem and they solved it by creating a large car park outside the gorge itself and shuttling visitors to and from the car park. Palm Cove already has a dedicated parking area at the northern end which could be upgraded to multi-level. At the southern end, the existing Imagine/Drift car park could be upgraded to multi-level with little or no impact to visual amenity from immediate neighbours.

There will be more resort development sooner than later on the beachfront in the southeast corner of Argentea in the future, not to mention the Liral land between Alamanda and Sea Temple. (Editor update: In 2017 when this document was written the zoning for these sites was still “resort zoning”)

In many parts of the world and in Australia, shuttle services like the “Petit Trains” in France and the Channel Isles operate successfully. As well as providing the service itself they add a dimension of ‘magic’ to a destination that helps to increase the attractiveness of the destination.
This can be done in Palm Cove. Every destination has its own sense of space.  We are not Disneyland and thoughtful design that complements our personality would need to crafted around transport resources like this.

There are numerous examples around the world where ‘petit trains’ have been introduced to solve transport problems and create magic and Palm Cove is SO suitable for this initiative and solution.