A coalition of Victorian conservation groups has called for proposals to allow for new commercial developments in Wilsons Promontory National Park to be abandoned.

Developments opposed by the groups and proposed by the National Parks Service include two new "lodges" (hotels) -- one catering for 150 people and another for 45 people undertaking commercially guided walking tours in the park. It is also proposed that the tour operators be allowed to build huts for private use in the park.

New walking tracks are proposed to join Waterloo Bay, the lighthouse and Norman Bay and appear designed to facilitate these commercially guided tours.

Spokesperson for the groups, the director of the Victorian National Parks Association, Doug Humann, said, "The proposals allow for a dramatic expansion of commercial activities to the detriment of the Prom. Further expansion in the future will be inevitable. The character of the Prom will change and once the precedent is set for `hotels' and private huts here, our national parks become yet another asset to be exploited, with their conservation importance secondary to commercial developments."

Humann also stated, "Commercialisation has already been clearly seen from the American experience to be a bad mistake. We must resist going down that path." To assist the groups in their fight, contact either the Victoria National Parks Association, (03) 9650 8296, or the South Gippsland Conservation Society, (056) 741 504 (AH).

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