Green Island economic study

Abstract

This document forms the report arising from an economic study of Green Island, North Queensland. The study was commissioned by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and was conducted during the period June - October 1979. This chapter of the report contains a fairly full summary of the study. It is designed to serve as a separate presentation for those who do not wish to read the full technical report which constitutes the remaining sections of this document. The objective of the study was to evaluate the existing and alternative uses of Green Island and its reef as a tourist/recreation resource. The assignment was conducted by discussions with many persons including all operators of commercial facilities on Green Island, by examination of various publications and documents, and by analysis of the information collected. Two field surveys of tourists were conducted to supplement other data sources. One was made on-board the public ferries serving Green Island and the other in accommodation establishments in Cairns. Acknowledgement is made of the information provided by the Green Island Management Committee. In particular, visitor surveys undertaken by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Queensland Fisheries Service have been useful data sources for this study. Attention is drawn to the confidence margins associated with many of the quantitative estimates presented in the report such as the forecasts and the estimates of value in the economic evaluation. The figures should generally be interpreted as indicative of orders of magnitude only. Uncertainties have arisen for a variety of reasons including the usual error margins associated with all forecasts and surveys. Other particular concerns with reliability have been caused in this study by the paucity of research on tourism in Australia the consequence of which has been that some aspects have necessarily had to be based on informed judgements and subjective opinions.