Educational Tourism in the Great Barrier Reef

Running head: EDUCATIONAL TOURISM IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
EDUCATIONAL TOURISM IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
Name of student:
Name of university:
Author note:

1
EDUCATIONAL TOURISM IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
Introductory summary
The Great Barrier Reef is stretched across a vast area of 2, 300 km and considered as
one of most important sites of conservation and has been subsumed under the UNESCO
World Heritage (Coughlan 2012). The rich diversity of flora and fauna has made the Great
Barrier Reef world. The WhitSunday islands comprises of an archipelago of islands situated
in Queensland, Australia (Great Barrier Reef 2018). I would like to establish an educational
tourism business that would create awareness about the rich flora and fauna of the Great
Barrier life. For this purpose, I would want the Courier mail to promote the business.
Educational tourism is one of the most emerging fields. The months of May and June
are the end of academic year and the beginning of the tourism season. Therefore, a waning in
the academic year leads to the waxing of opportunities in the educational tourism industry
(Tourismandmore.com. 2018). Educational tourism is known by the names of career
enhancement or experiences that lead to self-actualization (Robertson 2017). The coral reef is
known for its different species of marine animals, birds and fish. It consists of the one-third
of the molluscus, endangered species of turtles, echidnas, corals, starfish and crustaceans.
Around 80 per cent of the tourism activity takes places within the 7 per cent of the Great
Barrier Reef Marine Park (Coghlan 2012). The Park has been popular with scientists, marine
biologists and students who are interested to explore and investigate about the wildlife and
conservation of the Great Barrier Reef (Economics 2013). It has also been popular with the
environmentalists who are keen on the conservation of the coral reef. The local people can be
involved as trainers as parts of the educational trips. Owing to their knowledge about the
various facets about the region, they will have a competitive advantage as compared to non-
local trainers. Since, the rate of unemployment is quite high in the region, it will provide with
the means of livelihood