Home » Oceania » Australia: National Parks Service Suggests Banning Climbs of Uluru (Ayers Rock)

Australia: National Parks Service Suggests Banning Climbs of Uluru (Ayers Rock)

No Comments | July 16th, 2009 | Trackback

Climbing Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, has been controversial for years because the local Aboriginal owners of the land consider the site sacred and have asked visitors to stay off it. But there is no prohibition, and the only enforcement of the cultural request is the tourists themselves who decide whether to climb. Now the national parks service has suggested banning the climb entirely in a new 10-year plan for Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Naturally the plan has created controversy. The Northern Territory government does not support the proposal because it fears such a ban would reduce tourism to the area. Some 350,000 tourists visit the site each year, with the number who choose to climb Uluru down to about 38 percent from 74 percent in 1990. The climb is not without risk: more than 30 people have died over the years while climbing.