The Flinders Ranges Nuclear Waste Dump & Tourism

Average annual expenditure on tourism in the Flinders Ranges: $304 million. (Source: SA Tourism Commission, http://tourism.sa.gov.au/assets/documents/Flinders_Ranges_and_Outback.pdf)

The tourism industry directly employs approximately 1,400 people in the Flinders Ranges. (Source: ‘Regional Tourism Satellite Account: Flinders Ranges and Outback 2013-14’, http://tourism.sa.gov.au/assets/documents/Flinders_Ranges_and_Outback_factsheet_18Aug2015.pdf)

So:

— If the proposed national nuclear waste dump in the Flinders Ranges reduces tourism by just 1% ($3 million / year), the $10 million compensation package for the nuclear waste dump is swallowed up in just over three years … and the Flinders Ranges continues to lose $3 million / year for decades beyond that.

— If a nuclear waste dump reduces tourism employment by just 1%, that’s a loss of 14 jobs … the same number as the government says the nuclear waste dump will provide.

— If a nuclear waste dump reduces tourism by 5%, the $10 million compensation package for the nuclear waste dump is swallowed up in less than one year … and the Flinders Ranges continues to lose $15 million / year for decades beyond that.

— If a nuclear waste dump reduces tourism employment by 5%, there will be a net loss of approx. 55 jobs.