Using data collected from more than 1,000 tourists on live-aboard dive boats operating in the Cairns/Cooktown management area of the Great Barrier Reef, this paper estimates the regional economic impact of that live-aboard industry. It also uses a subset of these data (247 respondents) to investigate some of the relative ‘values’ of key marine species seen on the trips that included the Coral Sea location of Osprey Reef and which targeted multiple species of wildlife. The authors find that (i) each year, the live-aboard dive boats are directly responsible for generating at least AU$16 million worth of income in the Cairns/Port Douglas region; (ii) visitors participating in different types of trips gain their highest levels of ‘satisfaction’ from interacting with different types of species; and (iii) visitors to Osprey Reef would be willing to pay more for a ‘guaranteed’ sighting of sharks than they would for a ‘guaranteed’ sighting of large fish, marine turtles or a ‘wide variety of species’.

Ecotourism ventures in developing countries are often among the few alternatives for enhancing sustainable livelihoods without altering traditional ways of life. The best way forward is to continually develop and implement best practice guidelines and, in particular, to flexibly develop them to suit individual cases. We conduct a multidisciplinary assessment of best practice guidelines required to develop and sustain sportfishing tourism in developing countries, while enhancing local livelihoods and promoting environmental stewardship. In general, best practice guidelines should be developed around a sustainable livelihood framework that includes short‐term coping mechanisms and longer‐term capacity building. Sportfishing development that conforms to ecological and socially orientated criteria, founded on site‐specific research that captures local environmental and social complexities, has the potential to provide mutual benefits to tourists and local people, fuelling community development and enhancing the cultural experience of tourists. Best practice guidelines for sportfishing that do not address these dimensions are unlikely to result in a viable industry. Given the current interest and growth of sportfishing in developing countries, the proposed guidelines can help a range of end users manage, conserve and maximize livelihood benefits from their fishery.

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Sustainable destinations must deliver products that perform better than their competitors and at the same time protect key environmental drawcards. This research explores the environmentalÀeconomic interface of a major destination, both as a case study in how to approach this complex relationship and as a contribution to the methodology of tackling the need for understanding competitive pressures as part of sustainable tourism strategy creation. Using the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA) as an example, the paper assesses 21 key environmental values, including Indigenous culture, against market-based factors, in terms of their importance for visitors as regional drawcards, satisfaction with them and the way in which changes in them might affect trip numbers and duration across different regions. While the natural values of the GBRWHA are found to be the most important drawcards, satisfaction scores were significantly lower than importance scores for a number of these values. Visitors responded more negatively to the prospect of environmental degradation than to the prospect of a 20% increase in local prices: the detailed impact depends, however, on location and visitor mix. Clear ocean, healthy coral reefs, healthy reef fish, and lack of rubbish were the top four most important values.

The valuation of ecosystem services to inform natural resource management and development has gained acceptance in many arenas. Yet, contemporary economic valuation is constrained to the appraisal of simple goods that generate benefits that accrue to individuals, neglecting complex goods that generate benefits that accrue to society more broadly. Methodological barriers to the valuation of complex social goods have led to their frequent omission from natural resource management deliberations. The prevailing valuation paradigm that focuses on simple individual goods may erode conservation efforts by crowding out the institutions and behaviours that support socially constructed ecosystem service values. Erosion of these values ultimately harms the environment and society as a whole. The institutionalisation of appropriate methods for estimating the value of complex social goods alongside existing methods for valuing simple individual goods within international conservation, development and policy-making discourses, is therefore an important evolution for sustainable natural resource management.

Improvements in human wellbeing are dependent on improving ecosystems. Such considerations are particularly pertinent for regions of high ecological, but also social and cultural importance that are facing rapid change. One such region is the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Although the GBR has world heritage status for its 'outstanding universal value', little is known about resident perceptions of its values. We surveyed 1545 residents, finding that absence of visible rubbish; healthy reef fish, coral cover, and mangroves; and iconic marine species, are considered to be more important to quality of life than the jobs and incomes associated with industry (most respondents were dissatisfied with the benefits they received from industry). Highly educated females placed more importance on environmental non-use values than other respondents; less educated males and those employed in mining found non-market use-values relatively more important. Environmental non-use values emerged as the most important management priority for all.

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