This graph shows the total tourist visits to the Mackay 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	15045	0	237	15282
Aug 1993	13869	0	215	14084
Sep 1993	15767	0	208	15975
Oct 1993	17716	0	354	18070
Nov 1993	14753	0	315	15068
Dec 1993	15297	0	341	15638
Jan 1994	15541	0	204	15745
Feb 1994	8490	0	136	8626
Mar 1994	7083	0	82	7165
Apr 1994	6592	0	198	6790
May 1994	5792	0	165	5957
Jun 1994	10976	0	218	11194
Jul 1994	8443	0	190	8633
Aug 1994	7108	0	197	7305
Sep 1994	9513	0	192	9705
Oct 1994	9512	0	158	9670
Nov 1994	7315	0	132	7447
Dec 1994	6995	0	229	7224
Jan 1995	7890	0	372	8262
Feb 1995	3272	0	73	3345
Mar 1995	5177	0	199	5376
Apr 1995	6093	0	196	6289
May 1995	5787	0	118	5905
Jun 1995	7562	0	193	7755
Jul 1995	9832	0	403	10235
Aug 1995	6797	0	191	6988
Sep 1995	9636	0	235	9871
Oct 1995	18335	0	307	18642
Nov 1995	18896	0	205	19101
Dec 1995	19097	0	273	19370
Jan 1996	8387	0	322	8709
Feb 1996	4574	0	190	4764
Mar 1996	5063	0	118	5181
Apr 1996	9123	0	324	9447
May 1996	6133	0	256	6389
Jun 1996	9063	0	281	9344
Jul 1996	9362	0	263	9625
Aug 1996	8032	0	233	8265
Sep 1996	7976	0	192	8168
Oct 1996	9087	0	290	9377
Nov 1996	9048	0	229	9277
Dec 1996	8154	0	299	8453
Jan 1997	6085	0	205	6290
Feb 1997	5006	0	196	5202
Mar 1997	4850	0	152	5002
Apr 1997	8111	0	351	8462
May 1997	8170	0	271	8441
Jun 1997	8097	0	299	8396
Jul 1997	7998	0	62	8060
Aug 1997	10644	0	228	10872
Sep 1997	10151	0	262	10413
Oct 1997	9146	0	282	9428
Nov 1997	8419	0	261	8680
Dec 1997	9435	0	279	9714
Jan 1998	12056	0	310	12366
Feb 1998	7701	0	316	8017
Mar 1998	8379	0	239	8618
Apr 1998	7623	0	843	8466
May 1998	5951	0	1064	7015
Jun 1998	7064	0	1452	8516
Jul 1998	9597	0	1913	11510
Aug 1998	7613	0	1707	9320
Sep 1998	9121	0	1937	11058
Oct 1998	10502	0	1907	12409
Nov 1998	9354	0	1340	10694
Dec 1998	10099	0	945	11044
Jan 1999	10213	0	414	10627
Feb 1999	6250	0	305	6555
Mar 1999	7307	0	661	7968
Apr 1999	8826	0	1401	10227
May 1999	6079	0	1672	7751
Jun 1999	7879	0	1966	9845
Jul 1999	7899	0	2433	10332
Aug 1999	7654	0	2280	9934
Sep 1999	7886	0	2659	10545
Oct 1999	12248	0	2094	14342
Nov 1999	9767	0	1198	10965
Dec 1999	10577	0	552	11129
Jan 2000	8940	0	426	9366
Feb 2000	3995	0	119	4114
Mar 2000	6346	0	495	6841
Apr 2000	5865	0	1297	7162
May 2000	4544	0	1598	6142
Jun 2000	7740	0	2007	9747
Jul 2000	8562	0	1741	10303
Aug 2000	6210	0	1554	7764
Sep 2000	7530	0	1495	9025
Oct 2000	8910	0	1575	10485
Nov 2000	8352	0	1273	9625
Dec 2000	9720	0	584	10304
Jan 2001	11406	0	1303	12709
Feb 2001	6404	3	1025	7432
Mar 2001	9097	0	995	10092
Apr 2001	9265	0	1440	10705
May 2001	7850	0	2113	9963
Jun 2001	7151	0	1392	8543
Jul 2001	12793	223	3105	16121
Aug 2001	8989	272	2196	11457
Sep 2001	8148	334	1894	10376
Oct 2001	9267	2956	2467	14690
Nov 2001	7707	2478	2120	12305
Dec 2001	9239	2559	1534	13332
Jan 2002	8080	4350	3816	16246
Feb 2002	4971	3269	2416	10656
Mar 2002	5658	3422	2899	11979
Apr 2002	6073	2971	3229	12273
May 2002	5023	1953	2879	9855
Jun 2002	6305	1868	2829	11002
Jul 2002	9433	2904	2768	15105
Aug 2002	6519	2416	2226	11161
Sep 2002	6700	3514	2440	12654
Oct 2002	8106	3745	4973	16824
Nov 2002	6987	3597	3671	14255
Dec 2002	8074	3748	3807	15629
Jan 2003	6583	4269	3127	13979
Feb 2003	3396	2824	1483	7703
Mar 2003	5482	2836	1957	10275
Apr 2003	4933	3051	2429	10413
May 2003	4752	1977	2307	9036
Jun 2003	5703	1978	2035	9716
Jul 2003	7793	2884	3573	14250
Aug 2003	6134	3257	3094	12485
Sep 2003	6670	4166	3122	13958
Oct 2003	6732	3652	3921	14305
Nov 2003	6263	3887	3288	13438
Dec 2003	6576	3688	3124	13388
Jan 2004	7044	4198	2795	14037
Feb 2004	4731	3268	1801	9800
Mar 2004	3961	2815	1932	8708
Apr 2004	5980	3252	2928	12160
May 2004	4905	2214	2060	9179
Jun 2004	5262	1750	2442	9454
Jul 2004	7806	2820	3414	14040
Aug 2004	6908	3301	2965	13174
Sep 2004	6610	3298	3323	13231
Oct 2004	6006	3297	2759	12062
Nov 2004	5725	3347	2366	11438
Dec 2004	7262	3787	2655	13704
Jan 2005	6362	2864	2389	11615
Feb 2005	4285	2188	1646	8119
Mar 2005	5946	3424	2496	11866
Apr 2005	5533	2228	3392	11153
May 2005	5434	2127	2829	10390
Jun 2005	5087	2172	2985	10244
Jul 2005	6314	3160	3751	13225
Aug 2005	6099	3778	3536	13413
Sep 2005	7321	4447	3646	15414
Oct 2005	6385	4307	3381	14073
Nov 2005	6525	4066	3834	14425
Dec 2005	8346	4436	3514	16296
Jan 2006	7763	4441	3382	15586
Feb 2006	4700	2749	2240	9689
Mar 2006	3484	2433	2374	8291
Apr 2006	7308	3284	2071	12663
May 2006	5617	1755	1821	9193
Jun 2006	4570	1212	1908	7690
Jul 2006	7318	3312	2582	13212
Aug 2006	6835	5118	5603	17556
Sep 2006	7095	5646	4828	17569
Oct 2006	7773	4615	3079	15467
Nov 2006	7641	4731	3097	15469
Dec 2006	6229	4375	2809	13413
Jan 2007	9633	4461	3348	17442
Feb 2007	6269	1993	2968	11230
Mar 2007	6351	2939	3092	12382
Apr 2007	11667	3434	2013	17114
May 2007	8986	1765	2421	13172
Jun 2007	6904	1687	2396	10987
Jul 2007	8523	3213	1959	13695
Aug 2007	7077	3511	2259	12847
Sep 2007	8336	4597	2147	15080
Oct 2007	6622	5045	1572	13239
Nov 2007	4967	3839	1528	10334
Dec 2007	4517	3844	532	8893
Jan 2008	6152	2777	3487	12416
Feb 2008	5153	1386	2960	9499
Mar 2008	6580	1395	3688	11663
Apr 2008	5887	2452	3922	12261
May 2008	6021	1639	4139	11799
Jun 2008	5393	1791	3372	10556
Jul 2008	6434	2295	4187	12916
Aug 2008	6664	2400	4083	13147
Sep 2008	7335	2472	4303	14110
Oct 2008	6139	2889	4178	13206
Nov 2008	6244	2241	3786	12271
Dec 2008	8657	3027	4933	16617
Jan 2009	6898	2141	3858	12897
Feb 2009	4693	1561	3219	9473
Mar 2009	4322	1360	3157	8839
Apr 2009	7999	2448	4378	14825
May 2009	5806	1367	3623	10796
Jun 2009	5069	1684	3005	9758
Jul 2009	7319	2645	4173	14137
Aug 2009	7480	2274	3340	13094
Sep 2009	8379	3299	4728	16406
Oct 2009	7800	1810	4645	14255
Nov 2009	7238	1548	3948	12734
Dec 2009	8683	844	4060	13587
Jan 2010	8056	1879	3031	12966
Feb 2010	3931	869	2603	7403
Mar 2010	3412	737	2410	6559
Apr 2010	6483	2045	3470	11998
May 2010	5626	1183	3554	10363
Jun 2010	4397	1042	2719	8158
Jul 2010	6503	2047	3933	12483
Aug 2010	6346	1908	3559	11813
Sep 2010	6945	2542	4184	13671
Oct 2010	5482	1440	3557	10479
Nov 2010	4848	1563	2158	8569
Dec 2010	5416	1928	2125	9469
Jan 2011	4078	1915	2744	8737
Feb 2011	3295	1197	2181	6673
Mar 2011	3991	1420	2198	7609
Apr 2011	5150	2458	3422	11030
May 2011	5319	1634	3423	10376
Jun 2011	3642	1511	2909	8062

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