Underwater Suites, Giant Submerged Statutes; As GBR Dies, Tour Operators Try To Keep Tourists Coming
A tour operator has warned that Australia's Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is becoming a "theme park" as the natural wonder is increasingly opened up to development in an attempt to lure tourists. In recent times, several attractions have been built in the GBR, including underwater statues—some of which measure up to 20 feet high—ABC News reported. Meanwhile, a hotel constructed on a pontoon near an island in the southern portion of the reef, which features underwater suites, is set to open in November.
"In the past, it was simply the beauty of the reef, the diverse corals and amount of fish life, and things like sharks and manta rays and whales," Tony Fontes, a dive operator in the Whitsunday Islands—which lie off Australia's northeast coast—told ABC. "The tourism industry, desperate to maintain tourist numbers, is looking beyond the natural beauty of the reef because it's not quite what it was," he said. "It's just the past couple of years we're seeing the idea of a theme park coming in... statues and five-star hotels," he said.
Fontes said that the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA)—the government agency responsible for the care and protection of much of the reef—has drifted away from its original focus, allowing more underwater attractions. "The old GBRMPA was [about] a marine park, and the new GBRMPA unfortunately is becoming a theme park," he said. "[In the past] there was no debate, they just said 'no, that's not a natural part of the reef—we're not going to turn it into Luna Park,'" Fontes said.
John Day, a former director of the GRBMPA, said that the change in direction at the organization could be attributed to a perceived need to boost tourism after two severe mass bleaching events in 2016 and 2017, as well as several cyclones, caused significant damage to the reef. "In the past, the Great Barrier Reef relied very heavily on its own natural attributes to draw visitors, but unfortunately with the recent bleaching events and cyclones, some of these areas aren't looking quite as spectacular as they used to," Day told ABC.
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https://www.newsweek.com/great-barrier-reef-theme-park-underwater-hotels-attractions-beauty-fades-1457186
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