HAT202 - Tourism & Hospitality: Operating in Great Barrier Reef

This essay provides an overview of the hospitality and tourism sector operating within the Great Barrier Reef, specifically focusing on the lodging segment in the Whitsundays. It highlights the importance of sustainable practices, including engaging local farmers and communities to promote economic, social, and environmental sustainability. The essay discusses the role of eco-tourism and green hotels in minimizing environmental impact, referencing examples like Palm Bay Resorts and Whitsunday Apartments. It emphasizes the need for tourists to act responsibly to protect the natural flora and fauna, and suggests the adoption of advanced technologies for designing sustainable hotels and resorts in the future. The paper also touches upon the importance of maintaining cultural and social heritage alongside ecological balance.

Running head: OPERATING IN GREAT BARRIER REEF
Operating in the Great Barrier Reef
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

2OPERATING IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
Great Barrier Reef is one of the major tourist attractions of Australia. It is one of the most
valuable and precious gifts of nature. It displays a beautiful and thrilling marine life blended with
the best gifts of nature. It attracts millions of travelers both from the local and the international
levels. Apart from the soothing natural flora and fauna, one can also enjoy many adventures on
the Great Barrier Reef (Lance 2016).
The business segment selected from the hospitality industry is the lodging sector. This is
one of the most important sectors as the Whitsundays attract a major amount of tourists every
year. So, all the tourists will surely look for a comfortable place to stay. As the times are
changing so are the needs and demand of the travelers. It is for this reason that the different
lodging facilities at Whitsundays have provided many options to the tourists there are hotels,
motels and also facilities of bareboating, self-contained stays in the cabins surrounded by the
tropical flora and fauna of the Airlie Beach, national parks, gardens and many other such unique
and trilling options (Great Barrier Reef 2018).
Lodging at the Whitsundays can be one of the best ways for promoting environmental, social and
economic sustainability at the same time. The local farmers can b appointed to set up some
farmland areas where they can display and also sell the locally grown fruits and vegetables of the
island. The a la Carte restaurants can take fresh fruits, vegetables meat, fish, spices and all other
such ingredients from the local farmers (Ryan et al. 2016). Fooding is one of the essentials that
the tourists will look for in the hotels where they are staying. The flame tree tourist village is a
beautiful resort in the midst of the nature that provides the tourists a blissful experience. The
local people can be appointed to take care of the garden surrounding the resorts and they can also
act as tour guide into the national park and the camping adventures as well. The local people can
very well manage the local flora and fauna as well (Cheer and Lew 2017).

3OPERATING IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
Different laws have to be passed by the travel and hospitality sectors so that the tourists
cannot harm the natural flora and fauna of the island. They must understand their responsibility
of keeping the islands and also the hotels neat and clean. It is their duty to make sure that the
resorts where they are staying are not made untidy by them. They must not throw garbage in and
around the hotels. They must not misuse the accommodation facilities (Ball et al. 2018). They
must carefully handle the furniture. In order to maintain the ecological balance, ecotourism has
been set up. The cultural and social heritages are also maintained (Tourismwhitsundays.com.au
2018). The lodging of the tourists’ is done in such a way that they are located in national parks,
gardens, and museums. Palm Bay resorts and Whitsunday Apartments can be some of the good
examples of the Green hotels that have been set up on the island for maintaining proper
ecological balance. They are also making use of the modern technological advancements to make
sure that the lodging is designed in such a way that there are no harmful impacts on the
environment (Cheer and Lew 2017).
Currently, the hospitality sector is setting up many eco-friendly and many green hotels
that are designed in such a way that minimizes the harmful impacts on the environment. The
design is such that reflects back the UV rays, catch sunlight and reflects it within the buildings
and the rooms so that the tourists have a healthy stay. There is enough vegetation around the
resorts so that fresh and purified air gets into the house and destroys the germs. The resorts are
constructed with sufficient cross ventilation system. Eco-certification principles are being
followed to design the accommodation and lodging facilities in an eco-friendly and sustainable
manner.
Whitsundays is doing a good work in making the lodging facilities eco-friendly. This is
indeed a very good step towards promoting environmental sustainability. In the future days, they

4OPERATING IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
must adopt more advanced technological methods for designing the hotels and resorts in such a
way that will generate sustainable development.

5OPERATING IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
References
Ball, D., Bryant, S.L. and Mau, R., 2018. The interplay between tourism and conservation on
islands. Australian Island Arks: Conservation, Management and Opportunities, p.165.
Cheer, J.M. and Lew, A.A. eds., 2017. Tourism, Resilience and Sustainability: Adapting to
Social, Political and Economic Change. Routledge.
Goldberg, J., Birtles, A., Marshall, N., Curnock, M., Case, P. and Beeden, R., 2018. The role of
Great Barrier Reef tourism operators in addressing climate change through strategic
communication and direct action. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 26(2), pp.238-256.
Great Barrier Reef. 2018. Where To Stay | Great Barrier Reef's Best Accommodation. [online]
Available at: http://www.greatbarrierreef.org/accommodation/ [Accessed 4 Apr. 2018].
Lance, R., 2016. Great Barrier Reef. LiNQ (Literature in North Queensland), 34(1).
Ryan, E.J., Lewis, S.E., Smithers, S.G., Clark, T.R. and Zhao, J.X., 2016. Multi-scale records of
reef development and condition provide context for contemporary changes on inshore
reefs. Global and Planetary Change, 146, pp.162-178.
Tourismwhitsundays.com.au. 2018. Tourism Whitsundays, Queensland Australia, Whitsundays
Holidays - Tourism Whitsundays QLD - Home. [online] Available at:
https://www.tourismwhitsundays.com.au/ [Accessed 3 Apr. 2018].