Stallholders say Alice Springs Show is too expensive

Updated July 30, 2013 13:57:51

Audio: Stallholders say they’re being taken for a ride by Alice Springs Show (ABC Rural)

Many stallholders say they are refusing to return to the Alice Springs Show because it's too expensive.

Brian owns a drinks trailer and says the fees have increased substantially over the last decade.

"When I first went to the Alice Springs Show in 2004, I paid $500," he said.

"This year it was $937.

"They're charging too much - it's not a viable proposition, we're better off staying home.

"Alice Springs is the dearest show in the Northern Territory, even dearer than Darwin which is a royal show, which is around $600.

"It's second most expensive show in Australia not counting the capital shows. The next dearest show is Cairns and they're losing a lot of people to."

Brian says add-on costs such as camping, administration and cleaning fees are making it unviable for operators.

"The basic rate is $82 a metre, then on top of that there's $40 for two passes, which we never use, then a $70 cleaning fee that's now became an administration fee.

"Knock off putting the add-ons on, you're going to price yourself out of the business and this is what's going to happen to Alice Springs if they're not careful.

"But our complaints usually fall on deaf ears."

The Central Australian Show Society say it's done price comparisons against the Launceston, Mt Isa and Darwin Shows and concede that while other shows do not have a separate administration fee, the Alice Springs Show is still cheaper than these shows.

It also says that unlike similar shows, the Central Australian Show Society doesn't own the grounds at Blatherskite Park and must hire it each year for the Alice Springs Show at an additional cost.

President Kevin Heintze says the only price increases this year were in response to rising power costs.

"The only cost increase this year was the cost of electricity, which has gone up 30 per cent," he said.

"People want upgrades at the show, they cost money and [income from] stallholders is one of the ways we raise money.

"But I don't know our costs are all that expensive - we actually had some stallholders who were surprised how cheap we are.

"Places like Darwin have a lot more people going through the gates to get increased revenue.

"We have to recoup our money.

"We make very little profit, if any, and this year we did not make a profit on the show because our attendance was down on last year."

Topics: rural, agricultural-shows, alice-springs-0870

First posted July 29, 2013 09:26:38