This graph shows the total tourist visits to the Whitsundays Planning Area including full day visits, part day visits and visits by those who are exempt from paying the Environment Management Charge (EMC). Full day visits are the best gauge of the general trend of tourism in the Marine Park. Monthly data are also available in .csv format below.

Important information you need to understand this data

1. The data represents visitors to the Great Barrier Reef who used commercial tourist operations.
2. Data is updated on receipt of quarterly returns from tourism operators one month after the quarter has ended.
3. The count of visitor days to the Marine Park is calculated where passengers undertake a visit as follows:

• Full day visits:
  • A day trip of more than three hours is recorded as a full day visit
  • Overnight trips are recorded as multiple full days, for example, a stay of two-days and one night is counted as two full day visits.
• Part day visits:
  • Where the trip is less than three hours
  • The first day of a trip entering the Marine Park after 5 pm
  • The last day of a trip leaving the Marine Park before 6 am
• Exempt visits are passengers who are not required to pay the Environmental Management Charge (EMC), for example:
  • Young children who are free-of-charge
  • Trade familiarisation passengers who are free-of-charge
  • Passengers for whom another operator has already paid EMC on that day
  • The fourth and subsequent days for passengers on extended charters.

4. The data for 1993 represents six months visitation as data collection commenced in July 1993.
5. Recording part day visits began in the fourth quarter of 2001.  These figures were previously included with the full day visits.
6. The recording of coral viewing activities (for example, glass bottom boat tours) commenced in July 2007 and is recorded as part day visits.
7. The recording of scenic flights commenced in October 2009 and is recorded as part day visits.
8. The data does not include transfer passengers (for example ferry passengers).
9. The data presented are preliminary until they are validated. A variation of up to approximately 1 per cent may exist in the figures.

Download in .CSV format

Year	Full Day	Part Day	Exempt	Total
Jul 1993	32540	0	885	33425
Aug 1993	30475	0	797	31272
Sep 1993	36269	0	1016	37285
Oct 1993	34681	0	1386	36067
Nov 1993	32107	0	1130	33237
Dec 1993	32269	0	996	33265
Jan 1994	38807	0	1302	40109
Feb 1994	23834	0	752	24586
Mar 1994	24172	0	672	24844
Apr 1994	31438	0	1259	32697
May 1994	26243	0	972	27215
Jun 1994	30410	0	1412	31822
Jul 1994	36122	0	1377	37499
Aug 1994	36207	0	1175	37382
Sep 1994	48107	0	1289	49396
Oct 1994	45591	0	1288	46879
Nov 1994	43688	0	1375	45063
Dec 1994	38450	0	1113	39563
Jan 1995	44333	0	1402	45735
Feb 1995	23964	0	548	24512
Mar 1995	30449	0	851	31300
Apr 1995	34814	0	894	35708
May 1995	27877	0	643	28520
Jun 1995	28123	0	702	28825
Jul 1995	40111	0	1285	41396
Aug 1995	33056	0	819	33875
Sep 1995	44981	0	1076	46057
Oct 1995	57985	0	1523	59508
Nov 1995	53798	0	1430	55228
Dec 1995	53497	0	1252	54749
Jan 1996	54062	0	1589	55651
Feb 1996	36017	0	896	36913
Mar 1996	40618	0	1256	41874
Apr 1996	44391	0	1248	45639
May 1996	35493	0	1959	37452
Jun 1996	36486	0	1541	38027
Jul 1996	40056	0	1057	41113
Aug 1996	39722	0	1036	40758
Sep 1996	44572	0	1079	45651
Oct 1996	46192	0	931	47123
Nov 1996	42003	0	844	42847
Dec 1996	44166	0	648	44814
Jan 1997	44497	0	901	45398
Feb 1997	27961	0	485	28446
Mar 1997	21968	0	1159	23127
Apr 1997	33099	0	696	33795
May 1997	29355	0	824	30179
Jun 1997	26388	0	843	27231
Jul 1997	42372	0	926	43298
Aug 1997	43016	0	1005	44021
Sep 1997	44431	0	1027	45458
Oct 1997	50510	0	1076	51586
Nov 1997	42414	0	987	43401
Dec 1997	42842	0	894	43736
Jan 1998	36940	0	789	37729
Feb 1998	24950	0	677	25627
Mar 1998	28704	0	824	29528
Apr 1998	41867	0	2362	44229
May 1998	34845	0	2685	37530
Jun 1998	34860	0	1765	36625
Jul 1998	46485	0	2068	48553
Aug 1998	42691	0	2130	44821
Sep 1998	46088	0	2687	48775
Oct 1998	43857	0	6438	50295
Nov 1998	40733	0	5624	46357
Dec 1998	43703	0	5094	48797
Jan 1999	40373	0	7370	47743
Feb 1999	29816	0	2967	32783
Mar 1999	37460	0	5564	43024
Apr 1999	41207	0	8043	49250
May 1999	34377	0	5845	40222
Jun 1999	37477	0	5992	43469
Jul 1999	46023	0	9543	55566
Aug 1999	44959	0	9165	54124
Sep 1999	48038	0	13907	61945
Oct 1999	52758	0	13239	65997
Nov 1999	47465	0	9818	57283
Dec 1999	48274	0	7859	56133
Jan 2000	51945	0	10740	62685
Feb 2000	31856	0	2502	34358
Mar 2000	43748	0	4868	48616
Apr 2000	42844	0	8515	51359
May 2000	35244	0	6132	41376
Jun 2000	35047	0	5893	40940
Jul 2000	49540	0	7738	57278
Aug 2000	49309	0	8424	57733
Sep 2000	51376	0	11326	62702
Oct 2000	52750	0	10067	62817
Nov 2000	49011	0	8597	57608
Dec 2000	50727	0	6871	57598
Jan 2001	54268	3	8379	62650
Feb 2001	37512	0	3626	41138
Mar 2001	48386	0	5377	53763
Apr 2001	48970	179	7249	56398
May 2001	44004	171	6040	50215
Jun 2001	42081	97	5732	47910
Jul 2001	58583	440	10623	69646
Aug 2001	50613	248	9189	60050
Sep 2001	50326	230	11481	62037
Oct 2001	46900	4771	13925	65596
Nov 2001	45871	6384	9508	61763
Dec 2001	46944	5479	8002	60425
Jan 2002	51497	9223	8550	69270
Feb 2002	37754	6853	3972	48579
Mar 2002	43398	7266	5833	56497
Apr 2002	46152	8178	8004	62334
May 2002	38258	6843	6263	51364
Jun 2002	35886	5608	6085	47579
Jul 2002	53240	6065	9063	68368
Aug 2002	44373	5794	8125	58292
Sep 2002	47387	7521	11774	66682
Oct 2002	53637	9054	18587	81278
Nov 2002	45824	8949	8514	63287
Dec 2002	47646	8804	9600	66050
Jan 2003	51481	9127	9040	69648
Feb 2003	35054	6418	3452	44924
Mar 2003	40450	7054	5400	52904
Apr 2003	51644	8375	10017	70036
May 2003	38799	6233	6795	51827
Jun 2003	42226	5705	5922	53853
Jul 2003	54606	6776	10608	71990
Aug 2003	50220	7014	9442	66676
Sep 2003	50155	7815	14268	72238
Oct 2003	51721	9536	13836	75093
Nov 2003	48617	9935	9522	68074
Dec 2003	51965	10164	8146	70275
Jan 2004	54648	9453	9844	73945
Feb 2004	43166	7134	4394	54694
Mar 2004	43352	6769	6136	56257
Apr 2004	50634	8038	9239	67911
May 2004	38753	6688	6832	52273
Jun 2004	39367	5822	5647	50836
Jul 2004	57136	7354	11042	75532
Aug 2004	49473	6899	10401	66773
Sep 2004	52210	7810	14615	74635
Oct 2004	49370	8282	12602	70254
Nov 2004	49137	7909	7535	64581
Dec 2004	48242	8331	6217	62790
Jan 2005	46198	11687	7114	64999
Feb 2005	39194	11544	3835	54573
Mar 2005	47297	16692	7031	71020
Apr 2005	44129	7139	7181	58449
May 2005	40383	6804	5413	52600
Jun 2005	38521	6984	6765	52270
Jul 2005	48428	7933	10849	67210
Aug 2005	45112	8162	10675	63949
Sep 2005	50214	9789	13496	73499
Oct 2005	49988	10197	12208	72393
Nov 2005	44422	10171	7863	62456
Dec 2005	45691	11128	6732	63551
Jan 2006	49803	10776	8416	68995
Feb 2006	36776	7750	2566	47092
Mar 2006	32433	8015	4767	45215
Apr 2006	46017	8832	7791	62640
May 2006	37185	7323	6635	51143
Jun 2006	34406	5651	5959	46016
Jul 2006	50780	8216	11072	70068
Aug 2006	46758	7757	9230	63745
Sep 2006	48263	8262	11100	67625
Oct 2006	51963	10426	13610	75999
Nov 2006	49677	10633	8219	68529
Dec 2006	48533	10364	6350	65247
Jan 2007	59247	9301	8107	76655
Feb 2007	32508	5264	3073	40845
Mar 2007	46279	7199	5542	59020
Apr 2007	51627	8799	7952	68378
May 2007	39524	7086	6010	52620
Jun 2007	36889	6426	5666	48981
Jul 2007	48591	10632	11706	70929
Aug 2007	43793	9643	8292	61728
Sep 2007	45377	10650	10300	66327
Oct 2007	51313	9761	13956	75030
Nov 2007	54816	11265	9514	75595
Dec 2007	48357	10628	9132	68117
Jan 2008	48047	10224	10338	68609
Feb 2008	32875	6552	3586	43013
Mar 2008	46590	8223	7059	61872
Apr 2008	46459	9816	8938	65213
May 2008	40582	7279	7221	55082
Jun 2008	33740	6538	5651	45929
Jul 2008	49854	7516	12693	70063
Aug 2008	43647	6593	12584	62824
Sep 2008	48994	8684	13582	71260
Oct 2008	52376	10295	15998	78669
Nov 2008	50962	9846	9937	70745
Dec 2008	57360	11141	9421	77922
Jan 2009	46241	9061	9653	64955
Feb 2009	31847	5941	3990	41778
Mar 2009	38544	7592	6167	52303
Apr 2009	50679	9950	11386	72015
May 2009	35292	7844	7333	50469
Jun 2009	36416	7036	7883	51335
Jul 2009	49873	9927	13642	73442
Aug 2009	48541	8312	14202	71055
Sep 2009	49335	10570	15479	75384
Oct 2009	53988	12377	14229	80594
Nov 2009	47959	13235	9958	71152
Dec 2009	58902	13118	8515	80535
Jan 2010	47924	12511	9667	70102
Feb 2010	37817	9997	4665	52479
Mar 2010	35774	8863	6455	51092
Apr 2010	46661	10644	10553	67858
May 2010	36573	9049	7198	52820
Jun 2010	34431	7113	7802	49346
Jul 2010	46982	8317	13014	68313
Aug 2010	44732	7972	11533	64237
Sep 2010	44144	8791	14622	67557
Oct 2010	51358	9074	14466	74898
Nov 2010	44218	8177	8729	61124
Dec 2010	41725	8346	8172	58243
Jan 2011	36305	9186	7566	53057
Feb 2011	26627	5964	2712	35303
Mar 2011	42929	6099	5437	54465
Apr 2011	35788	7345	8527	51660
May 2011	35504	6247	6107	47858
Jun 2011	28105	5009	6793	39907

N/A* = part day GBR visitor days not recorded separately prior mid 2001
# = Visitor numbers (EMC) recording only commenced in 1 July 1993
Figures are based on EMC returns