Designing for symbiosis: commercial tourism operator responses to protected area policy instruments in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park

Budowski (1976, Tourism and environmental conservation: Conflict, coexistence, or symbiosis? Environmental Conservation, 3(1), 27–31. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892900017707) proposed that tourism and nature conservation can be symbiotic. Because many commercial tourism operators (CTOs) depend on nature-based assets, they are increasingly positioned as protected area partners in long-term conservation. However, little is known about the conditions under which their decisions align with or diverge from biodiversity conservation objectives. Guided by the Persuade-Enable-Constrain Framework (Dinica, 2015, Understanding the role of behavioural change mechanisms in groundwater use conflicts – Lessons from the Netherlands. International Journal of Sustainable Society, 7(3), 241–265. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJSSOC.2015.071297), this study examines CTO responses to multiple policy instruments in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Although participating CTOs expressed conservation-aligned values, their responses varied according to motivations, knowledge, sustainability conceptualisations and powers/resources. Programmes such as Master Reef Guides, Eye on the Reef, advisory committees and reef protection services supported symbiotic behaviours by advancing both conservation objectives and business priorities, including staff development, retention and customer experience. In contrast, competition for site access and permit acquisition contributed to behaviours that diverged from conservation objectives. The findings suggest that facilitating symbiosis between commercial tourism and nature conservation requires persuasive, enabling, regulatory and procedural instruments that recognise CTO heterogeneity and the diverse factors shaping conservation-related decision-making.