Operators will now be required to ‘buddy’ some swimmers with a partner, and carry defibrillators on the vessels that transport guests to the individual reefs and islands that stretch along the coast of north Queensland.
A new safety code for Australia's Great Barrier Reef will require visitors to wear life vests if they are deemed to be "at-risk" swimmers.
The rules are a response to the deaths of 10 people on the reef in 2016.
Tourism operators will identify swimmers who are potentially vulnerable before they enter the water.
Two French tourists, a British scuba diver and a Japanese snorkeller were among those who died in 2016. In the most prominent case, a French man, 76, and woman, 74, died of heart attacks while snorkelling together off Cairns.
Operators will now be required to ‘buddy’ some swimmers with a partner, and carry defibrillators on the vessels that transport guests to the individual reefs and islands that stretch along the coast of north Queensland.
Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators spokesman Col McKenzie, welcoming the new safety code, said, "The simple reality is the biggest market is the baby boomers, and the baby boomers are old and lack physical fitness. They are going to have medical emergencies — how we respond to that is critical."