| "Keeping the Great
Barrier Reef Great! Ensuring a Sustainable Tourism Industry
on the Great Barrier Reef"
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Great Barrier
Reef Marine Park. The Great Barrier Reef, undoubtedly one
of the best known and enthusiastically marketed World Heritage
icons, is also the earth's largest coral reef system. It spans
3,300 kilometres along the Queensland coastline, covers more
than 344,000 square kilometres of sea, an area larger than
Tasmania and Victoria combined, and is considered one of the
seven wonders of the 'natural world'.
Over the last thirty years since the creation of the Great
Barrier Reef Marine Park, much has changed and much has been
achieved to ensure a healthy reef and ultimately a healthy
tourism industry.
Tourism is an important part of the past and the future story
of the Great Barrier Reef. It is by far the Reef's largest
industry, contributing an estimated $5.1 billion to Australia's
national and regional economies, and employing the equivalent
of 63,000 full time staff. It is also a key means for communicating
with visitors about the importance of reef protection and
its amazing diversity. It is not surprising then that the
GBRMPA and the tourism industry have much in common and are
working together to ensure the health of the reef and to ensure
the tourism industry developing today is robust enough to
survive the challenges of the future.
And, there are serious challenges for the future. Changes
in water quality, increasing coastal development, continuing
fishing pressure and climate change threaten reefs around
the world, and the Great Barrier Reef is not immune. It is
vital that we all do as much as we can to address these serious
challenges, build resilience in our reef ecosystems and ensure
conservation of this remarkable asset. An asset which, let
us not forget, is integral to the Australian tourism industry
and national economy.
The GBRMPA is working closely with key tourism associations
and operators to encourage industry-wide adoption of the recently
updated Responsible Reef Practices, eco-accreditation and
to partner in world-leading responsible marketing and environmental
interpretation. The GBRMPA and the Reef tourism industry are
proactively addressing these issues now, harnessing new processes,
technologies and developing innovative partnerships. Some
exciting elements of this partnership with the tourism industry
will be discussed at the conference.
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