The given table illustrates the number of people visiting various destinations in 1996, 1998, and 2000.
Overall, there were decreases in the number of travellers going to all sites except for the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserve and Macquarie Island, which registered slight decreases. Notably, the Great Barrier Reef was the most favoured tourist destination.
Regarding the most popular destinations, the Great Barrier Reef was the leading destination, at 1,670,000 in 1996, closely followed by the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserve and the Blue Mountains, at 810,000 and 526,000, respectively, in 1996. Two years later, a contrasting trend was witnessed in the figures for the Great Barrier Reef, the Central Eastern rainforest reserve and the Blue Mountains.To be more specific, while the number of people going to the Great Barrier Reef and the Blue Mountains increased to 2,950,000 and 565,000, respectively, the figure for and Central Eastern Rainforest Reserve decreased to 790,000. Similarly, the number of visitors visiting the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserve continued to decrease to 770,000. In the meantime, the figures for the Great Barrier Reef and the Blue Mountains rose to 3,200,000 and 582,000, respectively. The pecking order among these three sites remained unchanged during the period.
In terms of the least favoured places, the Tasmania Wilderness was the leading location, at 450,000 in 1996, closely followed by Shark Bay and Macquarie Island, with 84,000 and 350, respectively, in 1996. Over the following two years, an opposing trend was seen in the figures for the Tasmania Wilderness, Shark Bay, and Macquarie Island. To be more precise, while the number of travellers coming to the Tasmania Wilderness and Shark Bay climbed to 475,000 and 102,000, respectively, the figure for Macquarie Island reduced to 310. In 2000, there were 483,000 people who visited the Tasmania Wilderness, compared to Shark Bay and Macquarie Island, which were lower, at 89,000 and 330, respectively. Remarkably, the ranking order among the Tasmania Wilderness, Shark Bay, and Macquarie Island stayed the same during the period.