Developing a Scuba Diving Tourism Business in the Great Barrier Reef

This report outlines a business venture focused on scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage site renowned for its rich marine biodiversity. The proposal emphasizes the potential of scuba diving to generate profit for the Australian tourism industry and contribute to local economic development by training and employing local community members as scuba diving instructors. It acknowledges the stable political and legal framework of Australia as advantageous for business operations. The report suggests utilizing social media platforms for promotion and addresses potential threats such as coral reef destruction and environmental changes. Key strategies include offering educational marine tours, involving the local community, collaborating with travel bloggers and celebrities, and providing additional entertainment options to enhance the scuba diving experience. The conclusion underscores the importance of vigorous promotion and customer engagement to ensure the success of the scuba diving business, while also advocating for government support in raising awareness about adventure sports.

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

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TOURISM BUSINESS IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
Lead sentence
This paper is concerned with my business venture in scuba diving in the the
Great Barrier Reef region.
Introductory summary
Stretching across a span of 2, 300 km the Great Barrier Reef is listed under the
UNESCO World Heritage (Coghlan 2012). The cornucopia of rich diversity of conservation
and wildlife has catapulted it as one of the major marine tourist hotspots in the world (Great
Barrier Reef 2018). The WhitSunday islands are a cluster of continental islands in
Queensland, Australia. I intend to venture in the scuba diving business considering the
beautiful marine wildlife of the Great Barrier life and I would want the Sydney Morning
Herald to promote my entrepreurial initiative.
Main body
Scuba diving is quite popular among the Australians and the tourists. The coral reef is
booming with variegated hard corals, different species of fish, marine animals and birds. It
comprises of one third of the world’s soft corals, molluscs, crustaceans, starfishes, along with
endangered species of turtles (Bunce., Townsley and Pollnac 2014). All these will make
scuba diving a wholesome experience for the tourists. Scuba diving as an important tourism
has the potential to generate profit for the tourism industry in Australia, thus, contributing to
the economic development (Australia.com 2018). The local community can be trained to
become scuba divers and therefore, provide them with a sustainable employment
opportunity keeping in mind the high-rate of unemployment among them.
Australia has a stable political system and therefore, it is safe to run the scuba diving
business. The country has a transparent and fair legal framework. According to Coghlan

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TOURISM BUSINESS IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
(2012) on the economic front, there is a great opportunity for the scuba diving industry to
grow, however it is not being promoted in the right way. Tourism in the region generates 4
billion AUD annually (Economics 2013). The great barrier reef in Australia is lagging behind
in the socio-economic provisions. The unemployment rate among the local community is
higher than the rest of Queensland (Robertson, 2017). Therefore, scuba diving would provide
an opportunity to them to become trainers. I would like to use different social media
platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to promote the scuba diving business. The
destruction of the coral reef and the environmental changes may pose a threat to the
business. Overall, the success of the business lies in the popularity of the great barrier and
penchant for adventure tourism among the millennial. Being the world’s largest coral reef it
is also popular with the scientists and marine biologists for educational purpose (Scott,
Freitas and Matzarakis 2009). To make scuba diving a success business and stay ahead of the
rivals, I intend to introduce educational marine tour along with scuba diving. In this I will
involve the local community and use their knowledge to make the customers aware of the
great barrier reef. I will involve travel bloggers, renowned youtubers and local celebrities in
Australia to generate excitement about scuba diving. In collaboration with the local
community, I will distribute handcrafted jewelleries and handmade paintings to five lucky
customers every week.. It is reported that the partial unpopularity of the great barrier is due to
the lack of entertainment, therefore this is one key area that I need to tap and provide along
with scuba diving.
Closing quotation
Along with scuba diving, I will provide glass bottom coral viewing and overnight
tours to the teeming customers.
Conclusion

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TOURISM BUSINESS IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
The PESTEL analysis of the scuba diving industry underscore that scuba diving has the
potential to succeed with vigorous promotion and through creation awareness about the perks
of adventure tourism. However, keeping the weakness and threats in mind, it is important to
promote scuba diving through making the experience engaging for the customers. The
government of Australia can be approached to promote awareness about the adventure sports
of scuba diving.

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TOURISM BUSINESS IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
References
Australia.com. 2018. The Great Barrier Reef, Queensland - Tourism Australia. [online]
Available at: https://www.australia.com/en-ie/places/great-barrier-reef.html [Accessed 7 Apr.
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management.
Coghlan, A., 2012. Facilitating reef tourism management through an innovative importance-
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Coghlan, A., 2012. Linking natural resource management to tourist satisfaction: A study of
Australia's Great Barrier Reef.Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 20(1), pp.41-58.
Economics, D.A., 2013. Economic contribution of the Great Barrier Reef.
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at: http://www.greatbarrierreef.org/reef-experiences/ [Accessed 7 Apr. 2018].
Robertson, Joshua 2017. Revealed: report for Unesco on the Great Barrier Reef that ....
[online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/27/revealed-the-
report-on-the-great-barrier-reef-that-australia-didnt-want-the-world-to-see [Accessed 2018].
Scott, D., de Freitas, C. and Matzarakis, A., 2009. Adaptation in the tourism and recreation
sector. In Biometeorology for adaptation to climate variability and change (pp. 171-194).
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