The Great Barrier Reef's Climate Change Impact on Tourism

The assignment discusses the challenges faced by tourists visiting the Great Barrier Reef due to climate change, which has resulted in destruction of its beauty and increased safety risks. It also touches on the importance of adopting strategies to manage these changes and the need for sustainable tourism practices. The references provided include various books and journals that support the discussion.

The effects of climate change
on tourism to the Great
Barrier Reef

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Background..................................................................................................................................1
Research aim and objectives .......................................................................................................1
Research questions.......................................................................................................................1
Significance of the study..............................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................2
Theme 1: Factors impacting tourist destination...........................................................................2
Theme 2: Climatic condition of Great Barrier Reef....................................................................2
Theme 3: Impact of climatic condition on Great Barrier Reef with regards to tourism..............3
Theme 4: Strategies that heals in dealing with changing climatic condition...............................4
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Background
Tourism industry usually face lots of problem as it is affected by climatic changes(Pandy,
2017). There are many tourism that are dependent on the weather conditions and this may affect
there business. Climate change may result in less snow fall or increase in heat waves and if an
organisation is not ready for these changes then they may suffer negatively. Present study is
based on the effects of climate change on tourism to the Great Barrier Reef. Great Barrier Reef is
the world's largest coral reef system and is having 2,900 reefs and approx 900 islands located in
Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland in Australia.
Research aim and objectives
Aim:- To investigate the effects of climate change on tourism in the context of Australian tourist
destination: Great Barrier Reef
Objectives:- On the basis of above aim following objectives have been drafted such as:
 To develop understanding about the factors having impact on tourist destination.
 To assess climatic condition of Great Barrier Reef(Great Barrier Reef, 2019)
 To evaluate the impact of climatic condition on Great Barrier Reef with regards to
tourism.
 To recommend strategies that heals in dealing with changing climatic condition.
Research questions
Q.1 What are the factors that impact tourism with regards to selected destination?
Q.2 Does climatic condition affect tourism in the context of Great Barrier Reef?
Significance of the study
The finding of this study will be beneficial to tourism industry as they will be aware
about the basic factors that are impacting the tourist industry and the way Great Barrier Reef can
assess the climatic conditions. This can help them to evaluate the impact of climatic conditions
on Great Barrier Reef and for the same different strategies have been recommended that can heal
with the change in climatic condition(Ainsworth And et.al., 2016).
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MAIN BODY
Theme 1: Factors impacting tourist destination
According to Gössling and Peeters (2015) tourism industry is one of the largest growing
global industry and contributes to economy around the world. There are many factors that
directly or indirectly impacts the tourist destination like transportation facility, accommodation,
food and beverages etc. There are other factors like good climatic conditions, Beautiful scenery,
popularity as renowned destination, recommendation from friends, availability of offers,
closeness of the destination. All these factors affect the destination of tourists in positive way as
tourist generally take advice of friends or relatives who have already visited the destination.
Customers are also getting feedback from the social sites or website of the company and they can
check the present climatic condition to decide there destination. Mason(2015) stated that there
are many tourist place that are famous for a particular climate like having snow fall, waterfall.
For the same climatic conditions have to be match with customers expectations. Another factor is
availability of offer, if tourists are getting best offer for the destination then they will choose that
destination only. Not only this if destination is popular enough like Great Barrier Reef is then
tourist will prefer that only as most of them want to visit popular places.
Jeon, Kang and Desmarais (2016) Argued that these factors can also affect the tourist
destination negatively as there are climatic conditions that do not match with the tourist
expectations like if a place is very popular for snow fall or waterfall but the present climatic
condition is such that there is no snow fall or due to less rainfall waterfall is not there. In such
cases tourist do not prefer to visit these places and in this way their destination get impact.
Theme 2: Climatic condition of Great Barrier Reef
Ainsworth And et.al., (2016) determines that Great Barrier Reef is world's largest coral
reef system located in Coral sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia and this having a good
climatic conditions. The Great Barrier Reef is having a tropical climate in which average
temperature in summer season is between 24 to 33 degrees Celsius and in winter season it is
between 14 to 16 degrees Celsius. There are basically two seasons green and dry season. In green
season 75 to 90% rainfall is seen usually in November and May end. Water is usually warm to
swim and there netted areas on the beaches as jellyfish inhabits coastal areas. On the other side in
dry seasons that is in winter season rainfall is low.
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Mellin and et.al., (2019) argues that climatic conditions are changing in The Great Barrier
Reef as there are severe weather events taking place like more intense cyclones are destroying
the beauty of reef structure. As temperature of sea is rising due to many human activities there is
risk of heat stress and mass coral bleaching. These changing climatic conditions are affecting
tourist preferences. According to Meyer And et.al., (2016) oceans have absorbed about 30% of
CO2 due to human activities and this had lead to ocean acidification. There is also a rise in sea
levels and this can impact coastal areas and mangroves as there will be less freshwater habitats.
It is most famous heritage and is listed in natural wonder due to its cultural, social and spiritual
values. The changing climatic conditions are result of global warming as human activities are
destroying the natural beauty of The Great Barrier Reef. If it continues then there are chances
that it may no longer be a destination for the tourists due to changing climatic conditions.
Theme 3: Impact of climatic condition on Great Barrier Reef with regards to tourism
Tourist sectors is the largest economic sector and for many developing nations it is the
main source of foreign exchange income and creating opportunity for development of a nation.
Tsai And et.al., (2016) stated that change in climatic conditions generally motivates the
tourists to visit the great barrier reef as in rainy season it become more beautiful to visit and most
of the tourists visit to view the scenes that are not available any were else.
The study by Hutchings, Kingsford and Hoegh-Guldberg (2019) emphasizes that climatic
conditions of Great Barrier Reef are impacting tourism as it is influencing destination choice and
effects the global tourist flow. If weather conditions experienced by the tourists is not
satisfactory and there preferences may change and they may give bad feedback that can
demotivate other tourists. Great Barrier Reef is having sudden changes in there climatic
conditions due to human activities and this is affecting the beauty of the place. Safety of tourists
also depends on the climatic conditions and The Great Barrier Reef have experienced cyclones
and extreme wind events that may cause safety issues for the tourist and this may also discourage
them to choose the place as destination of there tour.
Han, Lee and Hwang (2016) stated that The Great Barrier Reef have experienced extreme
wind that comes up with sand and dust that can negatively affect health of the tourist. Heavy rain
also reduce the visibility and tourists may not be able to visit the locations that can make the
tourist dissatisfied. In summer The Great Barrier reef may have such weather condition that
tourist may face sunburn , suntan or allergies that are make their experience worst.
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Theme 4: Strategies that heals in dealing with changing climatic condition
According to Schliephack and Dickinson (2017) there are different strategies that the
tourist industries may adopt in order to deal with the climatic conditions in The Great Barrier
Reef. These strategies can make tourists motivated in choosing the destination and can have a
wonderful experience that they can share with other people so that they also can visit the place.
They can avoid the areas where whether condition is not suitable and can visit other areas of the
Great barrier reef. Activities of tourists must be based on the weather conditions like they can be
restricted to swim less or more so that there heath is not affected. Tsai And et.al., (2016) also
emphasize that tourists have to provided structural and mechanical aids like umbrella, wind
breaks etc. that can protect the tourists and this can help in dealing with the change in climatic
conditions.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is being concluded that there are many factors that directly or
indirectly impacts the tourist destination and most important one is climatic changes as most of
the destinations are famous for respective weather condition and tourist generally check before
visiting the place. If they are not getting what they expect, there destination preferences chances.
Great Barrier Reef is having such a wonderful weather conditions that many tourists prefer to
visit the place but due to some natural climatic changes and human activities have resulted in
destruction of the beauty of The Great Barrier Reef and it has become more risky for the tourism
to take the tourist to these destination. Many tourist are motivated to visit the place in changing
climatic conditions as the beauty of the Great Barrier Reef rise during the rainy reasons and on
the other side it also demotivate many tourist as there are conditions when extreme wind
conditions can result in safety issues if the tourists. Tourism have to adopt strategies that can
help the tourist to visit the place by dealing with these climatic changes.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Ainsworth, T.D. And et.al., 2016. Climate change disables coral bleaching protection on the
Great Barrier Reef. Science. 352(6283). pp.338-342.
Fodness, D., 2017. The problematic nature of sustainable tourism: some implications for
planners and managers. Current Issues in Tourism. 20(16). pp.1671-1683.
Gössling, S. and Peeters, P., 2015. Assessing tourism's global environmental impact 1900–2050.
Journal of Sustainable Tourism. 23(5). pp.639-659.
Han, J., Lee, M. and Hwang, Y.S., 2016. Tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior in
response to climate change and tourist experiences in nature-based tourism. Sustainability.
8(7). p.644.
Hutchings, P., Kingsford, M. and Hoegh-Guldberg, O. eds., 2019. The Great Barrier Reef:
biology, environment and management. Csiro publishing.
Jeon, M.M., Kang, M.M. and Desmarais, E., 2016. Residents’ perceived quality of life in a
cultural-heritage tourism destination. Applied Research in Quality of life. 11(1). pp.105-
123.
Mason, P., 2015. Tourism impacts, planning and management. Routledge.
Mellin, C. and et.al., 2019. Spatial resilience of the Great Barrier Reef under cumulative
disturbance impacts. Global change biology.
Meyer, F.W. And et.al., 2016. Effects of high dissolved inorganic and organic carbon availability
on the physiology of the hard coral Acropora millepora from the Great Barrier Reef. PloS
one. 11(3). p.e0149598.
Pandy, W.R., 2017. Tourism enterprises and climate change: Some research imperatives. African
Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure. 6(4). pp.1-18.
Schliephack, J. and Dickinson, J.E., 2017. Tourists’ representations of coastal managed
realignment as a climate change adaptation strategy. Tourism Management. 59. pp.182-
192.
Tsai, C.H. And et.al., 2016. Perceptions of tourism impacts and community resilience to natural
disasters. Tourism Geographies. 18(2). pp.152-173.
ONLINE
Great Barrier Reef. 2019. [ONLINE]. Available. Through<http://www.greatbarrierreef.org/reef-
experiences/>
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