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How many tourists visit the Great Barrier Reef each year?
Over 2 million tourists visit the Great Barrier Reef every year.4
In 2025, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park recorded about 2.38 million tourist visits, up 2% on 2024 and close to its 2019 level, though still below the 2.61 million visits of 2018.1
The Reef Authority counts one visit for each day a tourist spends in the Marine Park with a commercial operator, so a two-day trip counts as two visits. Ferry transfer passengers are not included.1
How many tourists have visited the Great Barrier Reef in 2026?
About 1.02 million tourist visits were made to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in the first half of 2026 (January to June), 3% fewer than the 1.05 million in the same months of 2025.1
- January–March 2026: 534,190 visits, down 1% on the same quarter of 2025.1
- April–June 2026: 483,313 visits, down 5% on the same quarter of 2025.1
- The second half of the year is usually busier: July–December 2025 brought 1.33 million of that year's 2.38 million visits.1
- The Reef Authority updates these figures twice a year, once tour operators' Environmental Management Charge returns are in1, so July–December 2026 will arrive in a later update.
How did COVID-19 affect Great Barrier Reef tourism?
Tourist visits to the Marine Park fell 60% in 2020, from 2.40 million in 2019 to about 956,0001, when border closures and travel restrictions all but stopped international travel.
Visits recovered to 1.25 million in 2021 and 2.03 million in 2022, about 84% of the pre-pandemic level. They rose to 2.13 million in 2023 and 2.34 million in 2024, and by 2025 the Marine Park was back to 2.38 million visits, about 1% below its 2019 level.1
How much money does tourism bring to the Great Barrier Reef?
Leisure visitors spent about AUD 9.4 billion in the Great Barrier Reef region in 2023–24, more than a third of all leisure tourism spending in Queensland.2 Reef tourism added AUD 7.9 billion to the Australian economy that year and supported about 68,000 full-time-equivalent jobs.
- 8.6 million overnight leisure visitors stayed in the reef region in 2023–24: 87% were Australians and 13% came from overseas.2
- Overnight visitors spent an average of AUD 238 a night.2
These figures cover the whole reef region, including coastal towns such as Cairns, Port Douglas and Airlie Beach, so they are larger than the Marine Park visit counts above.
How much is the Great Barrier Reef worth to Australia?
The Great Barrier Reef added about AUD 9 billion to the Australian economy in 2023–24 and supported around 77,000 full-time-equivalent jobs, the equivalent of Australia's fifth-largest employer.2 Tourism accounts for most of that value, about AUD 7.9 billion; recreational activities, commercial fishing, aquaculture, research and reef management make up the rest.
Deloitte Access Economics puts the reef's total economic, social and icon value at AUD 95 billion, up from AUD 56 billion in its 2017 study.2
Most visited places on the Great Barrier Reef
Reef tourism is concentrated in about 7% of the Marine Park. On average, 86% of tourism visits happen in the waters off Cairns, Port Douglas and the Whitsundays, which have been the busiest areas since 2014.4
- Cairns and Port Douglas: the main gateway for reef day trips. The surrounding Wet Tropics region took about AUD 3.6 billion of leisure visitor spending in 2023–24, around 38% of the reef region's total.2
- Whitsunday Islands: home to Whitehaven Beach, with sailing and island trips from Airlie Beach. The Mackay–Whitsunday region took about AUD 1.6 billion of visitor spending.2
- The southern reef: Lady Elliot Island, known for manta rays, and the coast around Bundaberg and Agnes Water. The Burnett Mary region took about AUD 2 billion of visitor spending.2
- Green Island: a coral cay off Cairns with reef and rainforest, a popular day trip.
How long do tourists spend on the Great Barrier Reef?
How many people camp on the Great Barrier Reef?
About 17,100 people camped on the Great Barrier Reef's island national parks in 2025, on 5,260 camping permits, spending more than 50,000 nights there in total.5 Camper numbers peaked at 22,000 in 2022 and were lowest in 2020, at 13,700, during the pandemic.
- Whitsunday Islands National Park had the most campers in 2025, about 4,000.5
- Hinchinbrook Island had about 3,800, including about 2,700 on the Thorsborne Trail.5
- Capricornia Cays (including Lady Musgrave Island) had about 2,500, and the Keppel Bay Islands about 2,100.5
Campers on these islands need a permit from Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service. The figures count everyone named on a permit, adults and children, across 27 reef island national parks, by year of arrival.5
Campervan hire in Australia
How does coral bleaching affect Great Barrier Reef tourism?
Declines in reef health from marine heatwaves, cyclones and the media coverage that follows have significantly reduced tourist visits, according to the Reef Authority.4
- Leisure visitor nights in the reef region grew by only 0.7% a year on average to 2023–24, and real tourism spending by 1.1% a year since 2007–08, below Queensland's 1.7%.2
- Cyclone Jasper in December 2023 cost an estimated AUD 300 million in lost or cancelled tourism spending, about 6% of a year's tourism spending in Tropical North Queensland.2
- Polling after the 2016 bleaching event suggested that continued severe bleaching could cost the reef region more than 1 million visitors a year.2
Great Barrier Reef tourism FAQs
How many people visit the Great Barrier Reef per day?
About 6,500 tourist visits a day on average in 2025, based on the Marine Park's 2.38 million visits for the year.1
How long is the Great Barrier Reef?
The reef stretches more than 2,300 km along the Queensland coast and is made up of over 2,900 individual reefs.3
Can you see the Great Barrier Reef from space?
Yes. The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's largest single structure made by living organisms.3
Where do Great Barrier Reef tours leave from?
Most reef trips start from Cairns, Port Douglas and Airlie Beach, the gateways to the waters that receive 86% of tourism visits.4 Many visitors drive the Queensland coast between Brisbane and Cairns and take reef trips from towns along the way.
How many people stay overnight at the Great Barrier Reef?
About 8.6 million overnight leisure visitors stayed in the Great Barrier Reef region in 2023–24, spending 33.8 million nights there. 87% were Australians and 13% came from overseas.2 The figure covers the whole reef region, including coastal towns such as Cairns, Port Douglas and Airlie Beach.
Overnight trips on the reef itself, such as island stays and multi-day boat trips, are counted by the Reef Authority as one visit per day rather than as a separate overnight figure.1
Other Resources
- Australia Tourism Statistics
- Brisbane Tourism Statistics
- Byron Bay Tourism Statistics
- Cairns Tourism Statistics
- Cradle Mountain Tourism Statistics
- Darwin Tourism Statistics
- Great Ocean Road Tourism Statistics
- New South Wales Tourism Statistics
- Northern Territory Tourism Statistics
- Queensland Tourism Statistics
- Warner Bros. Movie World Tourism Statistics
- Western Australia Tourism Statistics
References
- Great Barrier Reef Marine Park tourism visitation data (Reef Authority, EMC logbooks) · Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority ↑ b c d e f g h i j k l
- At what cost? Safeguarding the Great Barrier Reef’s role in Australia’s economy (Deloitte Access Economics for the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, October 2025) · barrierreef.org ↑ b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q
- Great Barrier Reef — Facts About the Great Barrier Reef · greatbarrierreef.org ↑ b c d
- Tourism on the Great Barrier Reef · Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority ↑ b c d
- Camping and vehicle permits – QPWS permits issued for camping (Queensland Government Open Data Portal) · data.qld.gov.au ↑ b c d e
