Queensland National Parks receive 6.4 million visits in year to March

Queensland welcomed 2.4 million domestic overnight and 2.6 million domestic day trip visitors to national and state parks in the year ending March 2018, while 1.4 million international visitors to Queensland went to a park while they were in Australia.

Extrapolated from Tourism Research Australia’s International and National Visitor Surveys, the data shows that visitation to national/state parks across Australia has been growing strongly over recent years, rising by 8% over the three years ending March 2019, with 11.5 million visits to national or state parks while on an overnight trip in the year from April 2017 to March this year.

Separate data from the Queensland Department of National Parks, Sport and Racing (QNPSR) showed that in 2016/17 visitors to Queensland’s national parks spent $4.43 billion annually - 28% of all total tourist spending in Queensland.

QNSPR's 2016/17 Annual Report highlighted ongoing moves to transform Queensland’s parks into ecotourism drawcards.

Over 400 licensed tourism operators provide opportunities, through their products and services, for visitors to experience the outstanding natural and cultural heritage values of Queensland parks and forests. Queensland’s protected areas also support many popular tourist resorts and a wide variety of businesses that rely on tourism.

The Tourism Research Australia information relates to domestic tourists who went to national or state parks while on an overnight trip or day trip. For overnight visitors this does not mean they stayed overnight in a park, just that they visited a park during their stopover in a given state or region.

Click here to view the Tourism Visits to National Parks snapshot.

Image: Girringun National Park, courtesy Robert Ashdown/Queensland Department of National Parks, Sport and Racing.