Last chance tourism and the Great Barrier Reef

ABSTRACT

The publically documented decline in health of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) has led to its labelling, in media and academic literature, as a last chance tourism destination. That is, a place tourists travel to experience before it is gone. While the GBR has been labelled as such, no empirical evidence has identified that this is actually occurring. This article explores if tourists are motivated to visit the GBR to see it before it's gone, and examines the level of concern tourists have about the range of issues that are threatening the GBR. Drawing on 235 questionnaires with on-site tourists, the results indicate that tourists are seeking travel to the GBR in a bid to see the reef before it's too late. These tourists – identified as “seeking a last chance experience” – were also found to be more environmentally conscious, and have a higher level of concern about the overall health of the GBR. In terms of threats to the GBR, respondents indicated that they were mainly concerned about coral bleaching/disease and climate change, with tourism only considered as a moderate to low concern. The implications of this are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate change
• Great Barrier Reef
• last chance tourism
• sustainable tourism
• Australia

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the tourists who participated in this study and the tour operators who assisted in gathering data. Without their time and dedication this research would not have come to fruition.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Annah E. Piggott-McKellar

Annah Piggott-McKellar is a PhD candidate with the School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management at the University of Queensland, Australia. She recently graduated with a bachelor's degree in environmental management, majoring in sustainable development where she attained first class honours. Annah's current research is aimed at assessing climate change adaptation projects in the Pacific Islands. Her research interests centre on human–environment interactions, specifically how communities and industries around the world are impacted by, and responding to a changing climate.

Karen E. McNamara

Karen McNamara is a senior lecturer in sustainable development and livelihoods at the University of Queensland, Australia. She has a Bachelor of Environmental Science (Honours I) and a PhD in human geography, and has worked at various universities and government departments in Australia and Fiji. Karen undertakes research on broad issues relating to sustainable livelihoods, most notably community-based adaptation to climate change, environmentally induced population relocations and disaster risk management – largely in the Asia-Pacific region.