The table illustrates the number of people who travelled to six World Heritage sites in three years: 1996, 1998 and 2000.
Overall, the Great Barrier Reef, Blue Mountains and Tasmania Wilderness increased, while the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserve experienced a decline, and Shark Bay and Macquarie Island fluctuated over the period. Among these sites, the Great Barrier Reef was consistently the most attractive tourist destination.
In 1996, the number of people who visited the Great Barrier Reef was the highest, at 1,670,000, nearly doubled the figure for the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserve, which was 810,000 visitors. The Blue Mountains, Tasmania Wilderness and Shark Bay respectively attracted 526,000; 450,000 and 84,000 tourists. Macquarie Island received fewer visitors than the six sites mentioned above, accounting for 350, making this destination the least common place.
Between 1996 and 2000, the number of visitors to the Great Barrier Reef nearly doubled and maintained its position as the most attractive site for tourism in Australia, about 3,200,000. Similarly, Blue Mountains and Tasmania Wilderness saw the same trend, at 581,000 and 483,000 respectively. In contrast, the year 2000 recorded a decrease of 20,000 people each two years to Central Eastern Rainforest with its tourist numbers falling to 770,000. Otherwise, Shark Bay went up to 102,000 in 1998 before sharply declining to 89,000 over four years. There was a minimal rise by 20 people who visited Macquarie Island in the year 2000.