Coral Coast—Coral bleaching
563. Hon Sophie McNeillto theminister representing the Minister for Tourism:
I refer to the reported record-breaking marine heatwave that has resulted in significant coral bleaching and mass death along WA's Coral Coast.
(1) Can the minister confirm how many tourism operators run tours to reefs impacted by the marine heatwave, coral bleaching and coral death?
(2) Approximately how many staff do the operators in question (1) employ?
(3) Has the minister, the department or any of their representatives met with impacted or potentially impacted businesses?
(a) If yes, who and when?
(b) If not, why not?
Hon Matthew Swinbourn replied:
I thank the member for some notice of the question. The following answer has been provided to me by the Minister for Tourism.
(1)–(2) Australia's Coral Coast Regional Tourism Organisation lists 25 tourism operators that have scheduled tours and the Australia's North West RTO has five tourism operators. Operators are required to be licensed by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, which is better placed to provide more detailed information.
(3) Australia's Coral Coast RTO has undertaken stakeholder engagement sessions in the region across a range of priority issues and has advised Tourism Western Australia that feedback received to date has not indicated any interruption nor downturn in business due to the bleaching incident. Australia's Coral Coast RTO also remains in regular contact with the Exmouth Visitor Centre, which provides representation and a booking service for most operators and has confirmed that it has not reported any downturn in bookings or inquiries to date. The Australia's North West Regional Tourism Organisation holds regular member updates to engage with industry and has not received any feedback of business downturn from the coral bleaching incident at this time.
