This graph shows the total tourist visits to the Cairns Management 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	74472	0	4672	79144
Aug 1993	79851	0	5028	84879
Sep 1993	65353	0	4908	70261
Oct 1993	72266	0	2633	74899
Nov 1993	66588	0	3157	69745
Dec 1993	55125	0	2482	57607
Jan 1994	61590	0	2812	64402
Feb 1994	56651	0	2367	59018
Mar 1994	61293	0	2568	63861
Apr 1994	62220	0	2622	64842
May 1994	55066	0	3222	58288
Jun 1994	60587	0	3007	63594
Jul 1994	80652	0	2577	83229
Aug 1994	86004	0	2349	88353
Sep 1994	79614	0	2823	82437
Oct 1994	89841	0	3025	92866
Nov 1994	80538	0	2792	83330
Dec 1994	70481	0	2237	72718
Jan 1995	79400	0	2551	81951
Feb 1995	58503	0	1947	60450
Mar 1995	66686	0	2088	68774
Apr 1995	61764	0	2642	64406
May 1995	57963	0	2341	60304
Jun 1995	58887	0	2741	61628
Jul 1995	98039	0	2949	100988
Aug 1995	89392	0	2222	91614
Sep 1995	84569	0	2927	87496
Oct 1995	93344	0	3060	96404
Nov 1995	88295	0	3539	91834
Dec 1995	82838	0	3114	85952
Jan 1996	76960	0	2419	79379
Feb 1996	67168	0	2548	69716
Mar 1996	68430	0	2453	70883
Apr 1996	71520	0	3266	74786
May 1996	59437	0	2734	62171
Jun 1996	67498	0	3353	70851
Jul 1996	87652	0	3524	91176
Aug 1996	88569	0	3350	91919
Sep 1996	76717	0	3066	79783
Oct 1996	96008	0	3189	99197
Nov 1996	86707	0	3748	90455
Dec 1996	80742	0	3094	83836
Jan 1997	82797	0	4155	86952
Feb 1997	70449	0	2644	73093
Mar 1997	63578	0	2421	65999
Apr 1997	70983	0	3436	74419
May 1997	80690	0	4573	85263
Jun 1997	64847	0	3686	68533
Jul 1997	96941	0	4133	101074
Aug 1997	107000	0	3994	110994
Sep 1997	85890	0	3817	89707
Oct 1997	86631	0	3674	90305
Nov 1997	80208	0	3757	83965
Dec 1997	64902	0	3143	68045
Jan 1998	54442	0	3260	57702
Feb 1998	47009	0	2677	49686
Mar 1998	55786	0	3298	59084
Apr 1998	49004	0	3935	52939
May 1998	36784	0	3499	40283
Jun 1998	40861	0	3890	44751
Jul 1998	91504	0	5911	97415
Aug 1998	103567	0	7138	110705
Sep 1998	69765	0	5306	75071
Oct 1998	81883	0	7344	89227
Nov 1998	68692	0	6173	74865
Dec 1998	64803	0	4885	69688
Jan 1999	61745	0	4460	66205
Feb 1999	46909	0	2904	49813
Mar 1999	57335	0	3723	61058
Apr 1999	59473	0	3689	63162
May 1999	54647	0	3733	58380
Jun 1999	58199	0	4664	62863
Jul 1999	80239	0	5166	85405
Aug 1999	80241	0	5063	85304
Sep 1999	65660	0	5136	70796
Oct 1999	83755	0	6750	90505
Nov 1999	75029	0	6107	81136
Dec 1999	61182	0	4107	65289
Jan 2000	60886	0	2845	63731
Feb 2000	53157	0	2374	55531
Mar 2000	58088	0	2749	60837
Apr 2000	57553	0	2527	60080
May 2000	54994	0	2953	57947
Jun 2000	54781	0	3594	58375
Jul 2000	77853	0	3608	81461
Aug 2000	84170	0	3786	87956
Sep 2000	64200	0	2616	66816
Oct 2000	78603	0	3814	82417
Nov 2000	83536	0	4939	88475
Dec 2000	69113	0	3962	73075
Jan 2001	67232	0	3488	70720
Feb 2001	45661	0	2174	47835
Mar 2001	67389	0	3571	70960
Apr 2001	64906	0	3348	68254
May 2001	62909	0	4097	67006
Jun 2001	55883	0	3913	59796
Jul 2001	95218	1184	4841	101243
Aug 2001	91046	1514	4864	97424
Sep 2001	64088	860	4272	69220
Oct 2001	74042	1766	5668	81476
Nov 2001	69636	1797	5414	76847
Dec 2001	68462	1599	3924	73985
Jan 2002	62113	1660	4365	68138
Feb 2002	55421	1547	3869	60837
Mar 2002	63106	1189	4440	68735
Apr 2002	59598	1728	4862	66188
May 2002	56618	1702	5220	63540
Jun 2002	55263	1512	5213	61988
Jul 2002	85006	2409	5926	93341
Aug 2002	82931	2101	6501	91533
Sep 2002	70570	2084	5472	78126
Oct 2002	83894	2370	9809	96073
Nov 2002	78546	2067	8827	89440
Dec 2002	69337	2086	7027	78450
Jan 2003	67408	1683	7004	76095
Feb 2003	55687	1342	6188	63217
Mar 2003	59152	1184	5830	66166
Apr 2003	58955	1395	5787	66137
May 2003	48474	1231	5818	55523
Jun 2003	57340	1446	6338	65124
Jul 2003	74058	1354	7557	82969
Aug 2003	79408	2619	7632	89659
Sep 2003	73783	2651	7922	84356
Oct 2003	78353	2523	9974	90850
Nov 2003	74768	2442	9240	86450
Dec 2003	71713	2177	8645	82535
Jan 2004	72600	2393	7877	82870
Feb 2004	51382	1532	6439	59353
Mar 2004	50585	1560	6280	58425
Apr 2004	61513	1535	7080	70128
May 2004	57050	2130	7504	66684
Jun 2004	59958	2204	7733	69895
Jul 2004	88447	3946	9972	102365
Aug 2004	89151	4085	9267	102503
Sep 2004	70551	3093	9124	82768
Oct 2004	78243	3828	10363	92434
Nov 2004	71482	3370	9919	84771
Dec 2004	65848	3196	8746	77790
Jan 2005	64307	3847	8023	76177
Feb 2005	57320	3661	6702	67683
Mar 2005	61982	3169	7724	72875
Apr 2005	55158	2645	6951	64754
May 2005	54333	3197	7742	65272
Jun 2005	59263	2871	7610	69744
Jul 2005	77839	3565	8561	89965
Aug 2005	83142	3911	9387	96440
Sep 2005	72569	4708	8267	85544
Oct 2005	77596	4432	9840	91868
Nov 2005	73447	4085	9687	87219
Dec 2005	68404	3462	8663	80529
Jan 2006	65786	3484	9207	78477
Feb 2006	50142	3174	6801	60117
Mar 2006	49766	1981	6503	58250
Apr 2006	52830	2504	5872	61206
May 2006	46652	2402	6223	55277
Jun 2006	50782	2070	5941	58793
Jul 2006	79675	3252	3788	86715
Aug 2006	79519	3158	6376	89053
Sep 2006	65082	2317	6334	73733
Oct 2006	73801	3686	6165	83652
Nov 2006	70819	3946	6284	81049
Dec 2006	66583	3343	4541	74467
Jan 2007	66708	3212	7544	77464
Feb 2007	50156	2262	6350	58768
Mar 2007	58258	2698	7251	68207
Apr 2007	55715	9433	5172	70320
May 2007	45421	9320	5716	60457
Jun 2007	50533	9660	5378	65571
Jul 2007	71518	25371	6417	103306
Aug 2007	66787	27008	5694	99489
Sep 2007	59051	23572	5357	87980
Oct 2007	73726	26455	7119	107300
Nov 2007	63268	25057	6685	95010
Dec 2007	62382	23216	4919	90517
Jan 2008	52741	18857	3678	75276
Feb 2008	48234	21455	3431	73120
Mar 2008	48904	15361	3380	67645
Apr 2008	54158	19760	3499	77417
May 2008	47426	18917	3232	69575
Jun 2008	47336	17348	2980	67664
Jul 2008	72425	14787	5801	93013
Aug 2008	65038	13447	5879	84364
Sep 2008	55788	12641	5766	74195
Oct 2008	66013	13270	4758	84041
Nov 2008	64865	12969	5123	82957
Dec 2008	60135	13033	3299	76467
Jan 2009	58005	14019	5685	77709
Feb 2009	38788	8977	5180	52945
Mar 2009	47903	9686	4950	62539
Apr 2009	59259	10482	5802	75543
May 2009	44244	8825	5302	58371
Jun 2009	50593	8792	5196	64581
Jul 2009	76868	12830	6250	95948
Aug 2009	68518	15636	5877	90031
Sep 2009	62737	11520	5680	79937
Oct 2009	64024	14189	7759	85972
Nov 2009	55566	11787	7689	75042
Dec 2009	55027	13241	6397	74665
Jan 2010	44791	9615	5070	59476
Feb 2010	48220	16620	7665	72505
Mar 2010	41434	8964	6299	56697
Apr 2010	51176	12466	7979	71621
May 2010	41978	11521	6756	60255
Jun 2010	48413	10859	6871	66143
Jul 2010	65308	15798	7960	89066
Aug 2010	60226	18269	8441	86936
Sep 2010	56531	14222	7626	78379
Oct 2010	55691	13860	9868	79419
Nov 2010	53675	13394	10104	77173
Dec 2010	49340	13750	9317	72407
Jan 2011	53657	16648	9784	80089
Feb 2011	37223	15317	8613	61153
Mar 2011	41596	16041	7851	65488
Apr 2011	51600	14058	7347	73005
May 2011	42243	16186	6687	65116
Jun 2011	45641	15142	7628	68411

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