Australia: The Great Barrier Reef

1.0 Introduction

Australia is known for its beautiful beaches and marvellous man made creations. "The Great Barrier Reef, off the East Coast of Australia, is one of the wonders of the natural earth - it is the world's largest coral reef ecosystem," Australian Government. In 1981, The Great Barrier Reef was acknowledged as a World Heritage area and in 2007 it was added to the National Heritage List ( refer to images two and six). The reef is not only beneficial for Australia's growing tourism market but it also provides a healthy amount of capitol into the Australian economy (refer to diagram three). There are many factors that are and could potentially be affecting the sustainability of this natural wonder. Just think, what would Australia be like without The Great Barrier Reef?

( Australian Government, 2014)

2.0 Overview

Paradise, a place where you feel right at home. To many Australians, their paradise is in the water; whether that be snorkelling, swimming, surfing, diving, boating; the list goes on. ( refer to image five) The Great Barrier Reef is the heart of all these activities; if you want to live and breath your passion what better place to go than there. Over the years the Great Barrier Reef has been home to a wide variety of people; locals, celebrities, tourists, big corporation business men and families; however this reef is slowly fading; slowly becoming extinct. This report analysis’s the positive and negative impacts that tourism has on our environment, economy and what is does to Australia socially. The results will astound you; Tourism poses as one of the greatest global footprints on the reef. It has to potential to either make or break this natural wonder.

2.1 Background

This report will foc...

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... locations tourist decide to visit next. The Government has noticed the environmental impact that tourism poses on the Reef and stepped in to help, by providing a sustainable solution to the issue at hand; a Long Term Sustainability Plan. This plan ensures that certain areas of the reef are protected and looked after. Even though Tourism contributes many negative impacts to the sustainability of the reef it helps keep it alive and running; so in all tourism is a beneficial factor to the Reefs sustainability. A recommendation that could be considered would be for the Australian Government to promote The Great Barrier Reef a lot more then they currently do; make sure international countries are aware of its existence. This way our country will have more and more tourists each peak season and more capitol will be coming into our economy. ( Australian Government, 2014)