Tourists’ perspectives on protecting Australia’s Great Barrier Reef: Concerns, challenges and possible policy responses

This paper examines the potential impact of three possible Great Barrier Reef related disasters on visitor numbers to Cairns, Australia. The Great Barrier Reef is the destination's key icon and is heavily promoted featuring in almost all promotional material and marketing campaigns related to the city. Specifically the paper reports that an oil spill and coral bleaching will have a significant impact on future visitor numbers. Loss of the Great Barrier Reef's World Heritage status due to the government's approval of port dredging within the boundaries of the World Heritage Area will have a lower, though still significant impact on visitor numbers.