Operating in Great Barrier Reef Assessment 2022

Running head: OPERATING IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
Operating in Great Barrier Reef
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OPERATING IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
Overview of the Whitsundays and the Great Barrier Reef
One of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Great Barrier Reef is the largest living
structure in the world which stretches for over 2000 kilometer along the cost of Queensland in
Australia and it is also visible from the outer space (Scheffer et al. 2015). To explore the aquatic
wonder of the Great Barrier Reef the perfect place to stay at is the Whitsundays region, which is
located near the central position of the reef. The Great Barrier Reef protects the Whitsundays
from huge waves and thus providing a safe spot for sailing and cruising. This travel blog focuses
on the tourism sector of the Whitsundays in the Great Barrier Reef.
Employment in tourism
The tourism in Queensland is having a rapid growth due to which more and more skilled
are needed. 54 percent of the total number of workers in the tourism workforce comprises of
women. The representatives of Whitsundays tourism industry are considered as the priorities for
developing the future workforce in the region (Bos,Pressey and Stoeckl 2014). The tourism in
Whitsundays both by the direct process and indirect process approximately employs 4500 people
in which 17.5 percent of the workforce in the region are having direct employment in the tourism
job consisting full time employment as well as part time employment (Day and Dobbs 2013).
The accommodation of the employees as well as the food services of the Whitsunday region is
projected to have an increase by 12.5 percent in the coming five years (Lewis et al. 2014).
Regional tourism businesses
The latest available data shows that at present there are more than 600 businesses related
to tourism in the area of Whitsundays tourism (Grech et al. 2013). In an approximation 30

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percent of these kind of businesses consists of at least five employees which quite higher if
compared to state wide statistics of 26.3 percent (Grech,Pressey and Day 2016). Some of the key
enterprises in the area of the tourism of Whitsundays include the Mantra group, Coral Sea Resort
and the Miraj Whitsundays in the Airlie beach (Fletcher et al. 2015).
Discussing the environmental factors
The enterprises of the reef tourism as well as the broad reef tourism of Great Barrier Reef
functions in a large political as well as socio-economic environment which determines the scale
of state, global, the federal government as well as internationally.
Changing landscapes and adaptations

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The coral reefs around the world are always threatened by the increase in the tourism
industry. Badly managed tourist activity like diving, snorkeling and sailing affects the coral reefs
a lot (Emslie et al. 2015). Tourism operators were hired to keep a close monitor on the reef. A
combination of three step program was introduced to adjust to the changes in the different
schedule which included workshops which were done face to face process, short online form of
trainings as well as the need to commitment.
Business adaptations
Being one of the icons of the world the Great Barrier Reef is adapting different processes
to cope up with the changes in the environments as well as customer needs. Thus like other coral
reefs destination as a tourist spot the Great Barrier Reef also has adopted appropriate
management for tourism management strategies which has changed the threat from tourism to an
ally in present times (Cvitanovic and Bellwood,2019). There is an implementation in the
communications plan as well as an understanding between the community and the industries
based on reef about the implications in the climate change for the Great Barrier Reef and
managerial responses which includes contribution of the stakeholders and the partners (Stoeckl et
al. 2015).
Considerations for future sustainability
Managing the climatic change is a very important factor for ensuring the long term
survival of the Great Barrier Reef. A substantial amount of political and a considerable amount
of resources must be invested as well as the support of the public is essential. Different strategies
for social change as well as targeted communication will become necessary for the transition
stakeholders for a sustainable future. The Great Barrier Reef forms a part of the Australian

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society and it influences the identity of individuals and their feeling about the natural world that
surrounds them.
Reference list:
Bos, M., Pressey, R.L. and Stoeckl, N., 2014. Effective marine offsets for the Great Barrier Reef
world heritage area. Environmental Science & Policy, 42, pp.1-15.
Cvitanovic, C. and Bellwood, D.R., 2019. Local variation in herbivore feeding activity on an
inshore reef of the Great Barrier Reef. Coral Reefs, 28(1), pp.127-133.
Day, J.C. and Dobbs, K., 2013. Effective governance of a large and complex cross-jurisdictional
marine protected area: Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Marine Policy, 41, pp.14-24.
Emslie, M.J., Logan, M., Williamson, D.H., Ayling, A.M., MacNeil, M.A., Ceccarelli, D., Cheal,
A.J., Evans, R.D., Johns, K.A., Jonker, M.J. and Miller, I.R., 2015. Expectations and outcomes
of reserve network performance following re-zoning of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
Current Biology, 25(8), pp.983-992.
Fletcher, W.J., Kearney, R.E., Wise, B.S. and Nash, W.J., 2015. Large‐scale expansion of no‐
take closures within the Great Barrier Reef has not enhanced fishery production. Ecological
Applications, 25(5), pp.1187-1196.
Grech, A., Bos, M., Brodie, J., Coles, R., Dale, A., Gilbert, R., Hamann, M., Marsh, H., Neil, K.,
Pressey, R.L. and Rasheed, M.A., 2013. Guiding principles for the improved governance of port
and shipping impacts in the Great Barrier Reef. Marine pollution bulletin, 75(1-2), pp.8-20.

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Grech, A., Pressey, R.L. and Day, J.C., 2016. Coal, cumulative impacts, and the Great Barrier
Reef. Conservation letters, 9(3), pp.200-207.
Lewis, S.E., Olley, J., Furuichi, T., Sharma, A. and Burton, J., 2014. Complex sediment
deposition history on a wide continental shelf: Implications for the calculation of accumulation
rates on the Great Barrier Reef. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 393, pp.146-158.
Scheffer, M., Barrett, S., Carpenter, S.R., Folke, C., Green, A.J., Holmgren, M., Hughes, T.P.,
Kosten, S., Van de Leemput, I.A., Nepstad, D.C. and van Nes, E.H., 2015. Creating a safe
operating space for iconic ecosystems. Science, 347(6228), pp.1317-1319.
Stoeckl, N., Birtles, A., Farr, M., Mangott, A., Curnock, M. and Valentine, P., 2015. Live-aboard
dive boats in the Great Barrier Reef: regional economic impact and the relative values of their
target marine species. Tourism Economics, 16(4), pp.995-1018.