Talking climate doesn’t ruin Great Barrier Reef tourism

Telling tourists on the Great Barrier Reef about climate change doesn’t negatively affect their trip, according to a new study.

Instead, finds the research, it could be a good avenue to promote climate action for people who wouldn’t otherwise be engaged.

The study, done by a team of Queensland researchers, is published in People and Nature.

“Tourism operators are getting more engaged in learning how they can spread more awareness, given the state of the Reef and how urgent it’s getting,” says lead author Dr Yolanda Waters, an environmental social scientist at the University of Queensland.

“But they still have these concerns – what if it ruins people’s day? People pay a lot of money to go to the Reef.”

The team tested this concern by surveying 656 visitors on a variety of Reef tours that either did or didn’t mention climate change.

Waters tells Cosmos that her background working in Great Barrier Reef tourism provided the stimulus for the research.

“I used to work on the boats out of Cairns, and I went through these experiences of tourists asking questions and not really feeling equipped to answer them,” she says.

“There is this real feeling: how do we talk about this in a way that doesn’t negatively affect the industry?”

The researchers joined forces with 5 Reef tour operators in north Queensland to set up the experiment.

“We tried to get a range of different operators out of Cairns and Townsville, because we were also testing if it depends on the type of experience, the type of boat, if it’s 300 people or a smaller trip,” says Waters.

The researchers and tour staff developed control and experimental climate trips for each tour.

“It really depended on the boat and the type of trip,” says Waters.

“The operators let us work with their staff and design one trip that had no information about climate change specifically – they still had their regular information about marine life and regular day-to-day operations.

“And on other trips, they let us work with the staff to make sure climate change was very clearly incorporated throughout the day.”

This might include marine biologists’ presentations addressing climate change, videos, and posters.

“On the trip back, I went around and surveyed as many tourists as I could,” says Waters.

Visitors were asked to complete a 5-minute paper survey asking about their experience of the trip, and their engagement with climate change.

The researchers found that trips mentioning climate didn’t have a significant effect on visitors’ experiences.

“There was no overall effect on satisfaction,” says Waters.

People on both trips were interested in learning more about climate change.

“A lot of them wanted to have a chat about it, especially on days where there was no climate information on the boat – people noticed,” says Waters.

But people on trips with climate information weren’t any more likely to be spurred to action on climate change.

“We found that the climate information did increase people’s awareness about the threat, that information did get across to people, but we found that didn’t really translate to people’s willingness to do something when they went home,” says Waters.

This means that the information about climate change could be tweaked to be more solutions-focussed, according to the researchers.

“Our conclusion out of this, which aligns with some of the other research we’ve been doing, is that if tourism is to be this beacon of engaging people with climate change, it can’t just be talking about threats – people really want to know about solutions,” says Waters.

“Most people have no idea how they can help stop the ocean boiling. So that was the opportunity we identified.”

The research comes shortly after the release of the 2024 Great Barrier Reef Outlook report by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, which is compiled every 5 years.

The report found that, while parts of the Reef had declined and parts had improved, the overall state of the Reef remained “poor” and climate change was rapidly closing the window to preserve its health.

The researchers say in their paper that the tourism industry has an opportunity to promote action on climate change, provided it uses the right strategies.

“Two million people visit the Reef every year,” points out Waters. She adds that tourists often place a high amount of trust in the information given to them by guides.

“This is the right place and time to do it, but if tourism wants to really embrace the role, they need to start tailoring those talks and those education materials around solutions and actions that people can take home with them.”

Waters says the tourism operators the team worked with were “very receptive” to the study.

“I think tourism really does want to be on board,” she says.

“Tourism has to change, no matter what happens. And I think they’re starting to really recognise that.”