Passion for nature motivates change
TOURISM is driving demand for new ways to see the best Cairns has to offer while also being environmentally friendly.
And when it comes to innovation and sustainability on the Great Barrier Reef, nobody is as passionate as Doug Baird.
Quicksilver Group’s environment compliance manager has seen a lot of change during his time working in the Far North, but one thing that’s remained consistent is the efforts of the company’s reef biosearch division.
“We’ve always had a strong stewardship over our sites. It’s beholden to the company to look after their site,” he said.
“We always try to be as sustainable as possible.”
Part of the team’s sustainability is keeping a log of sightings out on the Reef, a practice that stretches back decades.
“Over a few years you start to see trends. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority saw the benefit of this data.
“It enables them to tackle problems that might crop up. And sometimes the operators won’t have the right resources, so they can get in touch with the authority,” Mr Baird said.
“It’s simple: the healthier the Reef, the more we have to offer.”
And tourists love the move, with more and more visitors engaging with biosearch staff.
“It initiates that dialogue between the operations staff and the visitors,” Mr Baird explained.
“I’ve been here for about 20 years, and I’ve seen a big change in the attitude of tourists. They’re more environmentally aware now. They want to see, for lack of a better term, the bucket list items, but they don’t want to negatively impact them.”
But it isn’t just the Reef that has tourism innovations.
Skyrail Rainforest Cableway last year unveiled their multilingual app, which adds an interactive experience for visitors travelling on one of the cableway’s gondolas.
The app teaches users about the rainforest around them with multimedia tools.
Skyrail general manager Richard Berman-Hardman said the multimedia app added an engaging dimension to the multi-award winning Skyrail experience.
“This is an exciting new addition to the Skyrail experience and another great reason for guests to visit Queensland’s Wet Tropics World Heritagelisted rainforest – home to the world’s oldest continually surviving tropical rainforest,” he said.