Big tourism must demand action to save the reef - its business depends upon it

 Newly bleached coral on the Great Barrier
Reef near Palm Island in February.

According to a blog post on the home page of the tourism giant Mantra Group, a “family holiday in Queensland would be incomplete without a visit to the beautiful Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef system in the world”.

Which raises the question, why isn’t the Mantra Group – one of Australia’s largest hotel and resort operators, with more than $8bn in asset management including a string of resorts in north Queensland – vociferous in demanding action to save the reef?

The question could not be more pertinent given the return of the threat of coral bleaching.

Mantra and other huge hospitality companies with interests on the reef, including Marriott and Accor, were conspicuously muted during the great bleaching of 2015-16. Nor have any of these companies spoken out strongly against the Carmichael coalmine proposal – despite the mortal threat that fossil-fuel expansion poses to the reef their businesses depend on.

Read David Rittert’s story on The Guardian - “Big tourism must demand action to save the reef - its business depends upon it.”