Great Barrier Reef Tourism Is Under Threat. Here’s Why.
June 2018
It’s so sad. Australia’s magnificent Great Barrier Reef – a World Heritage Site and tourist magnet – has lost massive numbers of visiting tourists. It’s mostly domestic tourism that’s down, but domestic or foreign, it’s bad for business.
So what has happened to Great Barrier Reef tourism? The decline started in 2016, as a direct result of several coral bleaching events.
The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on the planet. Australia promotes it highly, but everyone’s aware of the terrible damaged caused by warming seas as a result of climate change.
Though many parts of the Reef still survive, the problems that caused the bleaching are still there, and so there will probably be further damage. And further loss of tourism which will impact the economy.
A dive operator who makes his living from tourists visiting the Reef, said: “We’ve exploited the reef forever as tourism operators. Very few of us have ever given anything back to the reef. Not enough of us are standing up to back the reef.”
I think it’s rare that people accept that sort of responsibility.
In order to protect Great Barrier Reef tourism, several things need to happen. Farmers need to take more care about chemical run-off from the pesticides and fertilisers they use. (Organic farming methods help a lot in this regard). Coal mining, using massive ports for shipping the fossil fuel, has done massive damage. The Australian government does not seem keen to stop it in any way. There’s over-fishing, and of course, the world needs to act to slow climate change / global warming.
You can read the original article and full report below.
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Reef no longer among top 10 reasons for Australians to visit Cairns, says survey
The lure of the Great Barrier Reef to Australian tourists has “fallen dramatically” since the onset of successive coral bleaching events in 2016, according to a new report that reveals fewer domestic visitors are heading to north Queensland to visit the natural wonder.
The report, by the Centre for Tourism and Regional Opportunities at Central Queensland University, says towns should now develop “new tourism experiences” to compensate for lost visitors and the likelihood of further damage to the climate-threatened reef.
Continue reading…
Original source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jun/08/domestic-tourism-to-great-barrier-reef-falls-in-wake-of-coral-bleaching
