IMAGINE having your very own slice of the Great Barrier Reef.

In the Whitsundays perhaps you can.

Coral gardening is being discussed as a very real option to help inshore reefs recover post Tropical Cyclone Debbie and there are two men who can see the tourism potential attached.

Whitsunday Mayor Andrew Willcox and Tourism Whitsundays chief executive Craig Turner have been involved in talks on the topic over the past couple of weeks.

Cr Willcox said there was currently some research and development into establishing a coral gardening facility "that can (also) be a tourist attraction in its own right".

"Potentially we'll get someone to plant the coral and then we can monitor it - and basically you own your share of the Great Barrier Reef," he explained.

"In a year's time you could take photos and show people and say, 'I did that'.

"It would give people some ownership and a reason to be proud of that particular area."

Mr Turner said the Australian Institute of Marine Science in Townsville was already pioneering some coral gardening techniques.

"So what we would do, as Andrew said, is maybe link in with them and maybe have some sort of sub-station down here," he said.

"This could be a tourism product as well - people could actually go and buy a ticket on a boat to go out there and plant their coral.

"So on so many levels this has merit.

"It's obviously about intervention and reinstating what's been damaged, but secondly it's about conservation and thirdly it's a tourism product."

Cr Willcox said he was sure plenty of people would be willing to pay for the privilege of fixing the Whitsundays' inshore reefs and Mr Turner said it would strengthen visitors' bonds with the region.

"You've got the opportunity that in two years' time you could go back and look at that bit of coral you planted and see how it's going," he said.

"You could come back and see it's now 45 centimetres tall from the 11 centimetres when you put it in - so there's that real engagement with the Whitsundays."