The table illustrates how many people went to Australia’s six World Heritage sites from 1996 to 2000.
Overall, there was an increase in the number of visitors to the Great Barrier Reef, Blue Mountains, Tasmania Wilderness and Shark Bay, with the Great Barrier Reef witnessing the most dramatic rise, while a decline was seen in the other two sites examined. In addition, the Great Barrier Reef consistently had by far the highest figures throughout the period.
The number of people visiting the Great Barrier Reef started at 1.67 million, after which it saw a significant growth to 3.2 million in 2000. Similarly, the figure for Blue Mountains and Tasmania Wilderness saw smaller rises, ending the period at just over 0.58 million and 0.48 million respectively. Conversely, visitor numbers to Central Eastern Rainforest Reserve was 0.81 million in 1996, followed by a progressive decline to 0.77 million in 2000.
84,000 people visited Shark Bay in 1996, with a subsequent rise to 102,000 two years later and a final fall to 89,000 in 2000. Similar changes can be seen in the figure for Macquarie Island, dropping from only 350 to 310 in the first two years and growing to 330 in the final year.