Too many boats servicing Great Barrier Reef

www.gbrmpa.gov.au

A consultant has prepared a report outlining possible ways to deal with the oversupply of boats servicing Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

Consultant Bill Calderwood is recommending that a joint venture fleet be established or that the government buy back some of the boats to ensure the viability of others.

Tony Baker, the managing director of the Quicksilver Group, which is the largest of the boat operations on the Reef, agrees that capacity has increased significantly in the last 10 years, and that with the current decreased tourist demand, some operators are in serious financial distress.

Although Baker is in agreement that a buyback could help ensure that Reef tour operations remain sustainable, he feels that economic pressures are likely to result in changes before the option was even considered.

“Given the current market, I think there will be some form of consolidation before then,” Baker said in comments to the Cairns Post.

A code-sharing arrangement by which boat operators would sell seats on each other’s vessels was also recommended by Calderwood in his report.

“I don’t think it is as easy as code sharing like with planes. Everyone out there competes hell-for-leather,” Baker commented, adding: “There is an inordinate amount of competition out there and I guess you have to ask is it harming the viability of the industry as a whole.”

Thanks to www.travelmole.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.gbrmpa.gov.au