This graph shows the total tourist visits to the Reef 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	126860	0	5936	132796
Aug 1993	128450	0	6151	134601
Sep 1993	119557	0	6202	125759
Oct 1993	129514	0	4516	134030
Nov 1993	119159	0	4727	123886
Dec 1993	108046	0	4034	112080
Jan 1994	120786	0	4481	125267
Feb 1994	92565	0	3410	95975
Mar 1994	97568	0	3563	101131
Apr 1994	106576	0	4297	110873
May 1994	92266	0	4616	96882
Jun 1994	108150	0	4896	113046
Jul 1994	137822	0	4612	142434
Aug 1994	141157	0	4097	145254
Sep 1994	149071	0	4614	153685
Oct 1994	156363	0	4713	161076
Nov 1994	141761	0	4664	146425
Dec 1994	125485	0	3924	129409
Jan 1995	140239	0	4573	144812
Feb 1995	90435	0	2753	93188
Mar 1995	108826	0	3387	112213
Apr 1995	110060	0	3996	114056
May 1995	97961	0	3358	101319
Jun 1995	100690	0	3904	104594
Jul 1995	156706	0	4994	161700
Aug 1995	136026	0	3379	139405
Sep 1995	149485	0	4566	154051
Oct 1995	180943	0	5164	186107
Nov 1995	171499	0	5488	176987
Dec 1995	166037	0	5177	171214
Jan 1996	147693	0	4600	152293
Feb 1996	113560	0	3886	117446
Mar 1996	120280	0	4084	124364
Apr 1996	133166	0	5205	138371
May 1996	107528	0	5285	112813
Jun 1996	119691	0	5575	125266
Jul 1996	144934	0	5163	150097
Aug 1996	143425	0	4815	148240
Sep 1996	136758	0	4605	141363
Oct 1996	160257	0	4689	164946
Nov 1996	146450	0	5181	151631
Dec 1996	141091	0	4448	145539
Jan 1997	139697	0	5497	145194
Feb 1997	107707	0	3519	111226
Mar 1997	94341	0	3819	98160
Apr 1997	120521	0	4887	125408
May 1997	127345	0	6045	133390
Jun 1997	111416	0	5286	116702
Jul 1997	155135	0	5440	160575
Aug 1997	168079	0	5653	173732
Sep 1997	149021	0	5773	154794
Oct 1997	157275	0	5607	162882
Nov 1997	138787	0	5419	144206
Dec 1997	124890	0	4725	129615
Jan 1998	121222	0	5156	126378
Feb 1998	96573	0	4775	101348
Mar 1998	112696	0	5822	118518
Apr 1998	121041	0	9094	130135
May 1998	95270	0	9018	104288
Jun 1998	102881	0	9182	112063
Jul 1998	159057	0	11524	170581
Aug 1998	164026	0	12542	176568
Sep 1998	134973	0	11135	146108
Oct 1998	145270	0	17287	162557
Nov 1998	127061	0	14868	141929
Dec 1998	126136	0	12138	138274
Jan 1999	117508	0	13590	131098
Feb 1999	85967	0	7535	93502
Mar 1999	107218	0	11187	118405
Apr 1999	114450	0	14679	129129
May 1999	100400	0	12737	113137
Jun 1999	108929	0	14091	123020
Jul 1999	141052	0	18985	160037
Aug 1999	139977	0	18544	158521
Sep 1999	129608	0	23935	153543
Oct 1999	158439	0	24984	183423
Nov 1999	139700	0	19431	159131
Dec 1999	127954	0	13964	141918
Jan 2000	128679	0	15633	144312
Feb 2000	92816	0	5679	98495
Mar 2000	113406	0	8932	122338
Apr 2000	111842	0	13325	125167
May 2000	100617	0	11452	112069
Jun 2000	103234	0	12054	115288
Jul 2000	144471	0	14513	158984
Aug 2000	147981	0	15143	163124
Sep 2000	131687	0	17137	148824
Oct 2000	149227	0	17278	166505
Nov 2000	149308	0	16217	165525
Dec 2000	137517	0	12292	149809
Jan 2001	142317	3	14102	156422
Feb 2001	93853	3	7166	101022
Mar 2001	134052	0	11067	145119
Apr 2001	131390	179	13203	144772
May 2001	124040	171	13146	137357
Jun 2001	113576	119	12135	125830
Jul 2001	179897	2131	19954	201982
Aug 2001	163416	2133	17573	183122
Sep 2001	132794	1478	19180	153452
Oct 2001	142381	10328	23971	176680
Nov 2001	136856	11342	18455	166653
Dec 2001	135577	10181	14814	160572
Jan 2002	126691	16374	17418	160483
Feb 2002	101175	12618	10711	124504
Mar 2002	116992	13140	13853	143985
Apr 2002	117275	14173	17056	148504
May 2002	105904	11696	15115	132715
Jun 2002	102577	10074	14830	127481
Jul 2002	156266	13196	19070	188532
Aug 2002	141225	11827	17987	171039
Sep 2002	132823	14942	21331	169096
Oct 2002	154854	16443	34769	206066
Nov 2002	139272	15861	23124	178257
Dec 2002	132903	16007	21731	170641
Jan 2003	130783	16657	20173	167613
Feb 2003	98441	11414	11391	121246
Mar 2003	111101	12250	13791	137142
Apr 2003	121640	14043	19271	154954
May 2003	97876	10828	15877	124581
Jun 2003	111165	10481	15255	136901
Jul 2003	142590	12368	23009	177967
Aug 2003	143539	14481	21697	179717
Sep 2003	137669	15971	26730	180370
Oct 2003	144243	16934	29429	190606
Nov 2003	136986	17805	23763	178554
Dec 2003	137656	17602	21025	176283
Jan 2004	140531	17399	21712	179642
Feb 2004	103565	12701	13174	129440
Mar 2004	102973	12088	15269	130330
Apr 2004	123000	13974	20560	157534
May 2004	105831	12220	17684	135735
Jun 2004	109476	11177	16990	137643
Jul 2004	161122	16243	26041	203406
Aug 2004	152838	16243	24049	193130
Sep 2004	136529	15819	28547	180895
Oct 2004	141455	16942	28114	186511
Nov 2004	134070	16113	21883	172066
Dec 2004	130313	16715	18753	165781
Jan 2005	125401	19668	18745	163814
Feb 2005	105574	18429	12682	136685
Mar 2005	123176	24689	18267	166132
Apr 2005	111038	13770	18568	143376
May 2005	106822	13725	16992	137539
Jun 2005	109526	13461	18371	141358
Jul 2005	140524	16486	24647	181657
Aug 2005	141580	17366	25253	184199
Sep 2005	138871	20795	27197	186863
Oct 2005	142242	20476	28097	190815
Nov 2005	132192	20106	23434	175732
Dec 2005	130555	20671	20232	171458
Jan 2006	131471	20316	22298	174085
Feb 2006	96473	14926	12198	123597
Mar 2006	90604	13404	14691	118699
Apr 2006	113099	16197	16965	146261
May 2006	94370	12864	15908	123142
Jun 2006	94300	10552	15241	120093
Jul 2006	144273	16538	18774	179585
Aug 2006	139098	17163	20784	177045
Sep 2006	125340	17435	22552	165327
Oct 2006	139882	19858	24711	184451
Nov 2006	133836	20096	18761	172693
Dec 2006	126906	19627	14744	161277
Jan 2007	141673	19179	20261	181113
Feb 2007	91253	10559	12727	114539
Mar 2007	116647	14382	16821	147850
Apr 2007	125729	23059	16754	165542
May 2007	99233	19391	15651	134275
Jun 2007	99526	18923	15122	133571
Jul 2007	138654	41357	22163	202174
Aug 2007	125859	41848	18495	186202
Sep 2007	121121	40424	19836	181381
Oct 2007	140075	43675	24699	208449
Nov 2007	130489	42358	19417	192264
Dec 2007	122676	40293	16336	179305
Jan 2008	110133	33739	18607	162479
Feb 2008	87697	30503	10351	128551
Mar 2008	103930	26892	14722	145544
Apr 2008	112653	33952	17935	164540
May 2008	99530	29716	15731	144977
Jun 2008	91062	27446	13098	131606
Jul 2008	136853	27209	23912	187974
Aug 2008	121722	24493	23952	170167
Sep 2008	120063	26035	25137	171235
Oct 2008	132315	28556	26609	187480
Nov 2008	128738	27052	20018	175808
Dec 2008	133349	29450	18636	181435
Jan 2009	117200	26845	20074	164119
Feb 2009	78519	17247	12677	108443
Mar 2009	95705	20060	16118	131883
Apr 2009	124983	24995	22547	172525
May 2009	90337	19706	17140	127183
Jun 2009	96163	19361	16661	132185
Jul 2009	140073	27799	25187	193059
Aug 2009	129862	28454	24526	182842
Sep 2009	126840	27114	27023	180977
Oct 2009	131593	30096	27576	189265
Nov 2009	116252	27794	22538	166584
Dec 2009	128931	28674	19877	177482
Jan 2010	105635	25370	18516	149521
Feb 2010	92678	28590	15333	136601
Mar 2010	83572	19624	15853	119049
Apr 2010	109376	26351	22643	158370
May 2010	88164	22892	18007	129063
Jun 2010	90377	20135	17785	128297
Jul 2010	124287	28408	25864	178559
Aug 2010	116097	30088	24698	170883
Sep 2010	113795	27502	27652	168949
Oct 2010	118468	25726	29624	173818
Nov 2010	111153	24738	23454	159345
Dec 2010	101151	25357	21254	147762
Jan 2011	98193	28757	20921	147871
Feb 2011	69529	23093	14139	106761
Mar 2011	94563	24852	15958	135373
Apr 2011	96900	25529	20188	142617
May 2011	87547	25415	16807	129769
Jun 2011	81797	22808	18093	122698

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