Being one the most beautiful natural heritage site on Earth, the GBRMP makes a great place for ecotourism. In fact, tourism activity is the most economically valuable activity in the GBRMP, with approximately 1.6 million visitors per year across all over the world. Since the GBRMP is a marine protected area, all human related activity in the park is strictly regulated to minimize the disturbance to the native ecosystem. As the result of the active “zoning” by the park management team and the limited advertisement on only certain designated “sites” in the park, 7% of the total area of the park accounted for over 85% of the human visitation. In another words, the management team had effectively controlled the flow of the tourists. In fact, the marine tourism industry in the GBRMP as mainly focused on only two major accessible reef area. At a glance, this sounds like a very promising solution for a better protection of the park, but some expert argued that this may not be very effective overall, and so the controversy starts from here.
…show more content…
This paper will later go more in depth on why that is in a later section. According to a study by V. J. Harriot, the ecotourism activities can be easily categorized in to six major branches, each managed and influenced by a considerably different group and type of brokers. The six sectors included structure-based, vessel-based, bareboat charter, cruise ships, aircraft-based, and resort/shore-based. This wide variety of option further attracts more tourists as each tourist came with a different background and preference. Structure-based activity are basically activity that involves an artificial infrastructure built on-site. For example, a floating hotel often attracts tourists who seeks a resort experience farther away from the shoreline. Other common structures include pontoons and underwater observatories. Vessel-based activity are site-specific, where the brokers will take the tourists on a rover and bring them to specific sites. In some cases, this type of activity may take up to weeks, and in which case, it would be subcategorized as extended vessel-based activity. Bareboat charter is probably the most cliché activity. This is the familiar yachting that we often see in media such as television shows and even some marine biology documentary. Again, due to protection issue, yachts are only allowed in certain restricted area to protect them from accidental damage to shallow water coral reefs as well as passerby dugongs. Cruise ship is not as common in the GBRMP mainly because of its sheer size prohibits it from cruising near coral reef area. This is type of activity are more suited for tourists who are not particularly interested in the reefs themselves but more of the ocean scenery in general. Aircraft-based sightseeing activity is also not very common although some brokers do provide such limited service. Since this is a marine park, seaplane is often used instead of traditional helicopter as seen in places like the Grand Canyon National Park. Lastly, resort/shore-based activity are probably one of the most popular among the six. This includes all resorts, hotels, restaurants, and other similarly related businesses on the shore. Since most tourists will not stay out in the sea overnight on a cruise ship, many of them will return to the shore for meal and stay. With all those activities in place, concerns among the park managers and other
This paper will later go more in depth on why that is in a later section. According to a study by V. J. Harriot, the ecotourism activities can be easily categorized in to six major branches, each managed and influenced by a considerably different group and type of brokers. The six sectors included structure-based, vessel-based, bareboat charter, cruise ships, aircraft-based, and resort/shore-based. This wide variety of option further attracts more tourists as each tourist came with a different background and preference. Structure-based activity are basically activity that involves an artificial infrastructure built on-site. For example, a floating hotel often attracts tourists who seeks a resort experience farther away from the shoreline. Other common structures include pontoons and underwater observatories. Vessel-based activity are site-specific, where the brokers will take the tourists on a rover and bring them to specific sites. In some cases, this type of activity may take up to weeks, and in which case, it would be subcategorized as extended vessel-based activity. Bareboat charter is probably the most cliché activity. This is the familiar yachting that we often see in media such as television shows and even some marine biology documentary. Again, due to protection issue, yachts are only allowed in certain restricted area to protect them from accidental damage to shallow water coral reefs as well as passerby dugongs. Cruise ship is not as common in the GBRMP mainly because of its sheer size prohibits it from cruising near coral reef area. This is type of activity are more suited for tourists who are not particularly interested in the reefs themselves but more of the ocean scenery in general. Aircraft-based sightseeing activity is also not very common although some brokers do provide such limited service. Since this is a marine park, seaplane is often used instead of traditional helicopter as seen in places like the Grand Canyon National Park. Lastly, resort/shore-based activity are probably one of the most popular among the six. This includes all resorts, hotels, restaurants, and other similarly related businesses on the shore. Since most tourists will not stay out in the sea overnight on a cruise ship, many of them will return to the shore for meal and stay. With all those activities in place, concerns among the park managers and other