Tourist visits to the Mackay/Capricorn management area

The following graphs show visitation to the Mackay/Capricorn 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. The data is displayed by financial and calendar years and does not include coral viewing activities or scenic flights. Monthly data are also available in .csv format.

Visitation by financial year

Total visitation to the Mackay/Capricorn Management Area including full day visits, part day visits and visits by those who are exempt from paying the Environment Management Charge (EMC), commencing July 1993, finishing June 2012, by financial year. From a total of 149,594 visitor days in 1993-1994, visitation decreased to 86,916 visitor days in 1994-1995, increased again to 128,041 in 1995-1996, then declined 94,958 in 1996-1997. A steady increase was seen up to June 1999, followed by reduced visitor days in 1999-2000, then a slight increase in 2000-2001. Visitation then increased markedly to 150,292 visitor days in 2001-2002, and whilst decreasing slightly, remained steady until 2006-2007, in which another marked increase to 174,934 visitor days occurred. Visitation dropped to 136,775 visitor days in 2007-2008, with a minor increase in 2008-2009, but then declined over the subsequent years, with 122,680 visitor days recorded for 2011-2012. 

Visitation by calendar year

Total visitation to the Mackay/Capricorn Management Area including full day visits, part day visits and visits by those who are exempt from paying the Environment Management Charge (EMC), commencing July 1993, finishing June 2012, by financial year. From a total of 149,594 visitor days in 1993-1994, visitation decreased to 86,916 visitor days in 1994-1995, increased again to 128,041 in 1995-1996, then declined 94,958 in 1996-1997. A steady increase was seen up to June 1999, followed by reduced visitor days in 1999-2000, then a slight increase in 2000-2001. Visitation then increased markedly to 150,292 visitor days in 2001-2002, and whilst decreasing slightly, remained steady until 2006-2007, in which another marked increase to 174,934 visitor days occurred. Visitation dropped to 136,775 visitor days in 2007-2008, with a minor increase in 2008-2009, but then declined over the subsequent years, with 122,680 visitor days recorded for 2011-2012.

Important information about this data

  1. The data represents visitors to the Great Barrier Reef who used commercial tourist operations.
  2. Data is updated quarterly following receipt of Environmental Management Charge returns from tourism operators.
  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. This data is not included in the graph (above).
  7. The recording of scenic flights commenced in October 2009. This data is not included in the graph (above).
  8. The data does not include transfer passengers (for example ferry passengers).
  9. The data presented has not been validated. 
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