Reef worth £33bn to Australian economy

THE Great Barrier Reef is an asset worth 56 billion Australian dollars (£33 billion), and as an ecosystem and economic driver is “too big to fail”, a study has found.

The Deloitte Access Economics report, commissioned by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, said the reef was worth £17billion to tourism alone, supporting 64,000 jobs.

The “indirect or non-use” value – made up of people who have not yet visited the reef but know it exists – was estimated at £14 billion, with recreational users such as boaters making up the rest.

The World Heritage-listed reef, which is suffering a second straight year of coral bleaching, is the largest living structure on Earth.

The reef is suffering damage as a result of warmer sea temperatures and is also under pressure from farming run-off, development and the coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish, as well as being hit by a powerful cyclone earlier this year.

Steve Sargent, director of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, said that no single Australian asset contributed as much to the international perceptions of “Brand Australia”.

“At $56billion, the reef is valued at more than 12 Sydney Opera Houses,” he said.

“This report sends a clear message that the Great Barrier Reef – as an ecosystem, as an economic driver, as a global treasure – is too big to fail.”