Title: 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2003
Headings: 
1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2003
Content: During the first half of the 20th century, most tourist activity was inshore and close to regional centres, being limited by vessel technology and poor transport links to southern capitals. During the 1960s and 1970s there was steady growth in visitor numbers, particularly at Green Island and in the Whitsundays. By the end of the 1970s new, faster vessels extended the range of a day trip to the Reef to between 15 and 20 nautical miles. Reef tourism grew rapidly in the 1980s and early 1990s, assisted by improved air access to a number of regional centres (including an international airport in Cairns) and improved road transport links. In the early 1980s visitor numbers to the Marine Park were increasing by about 30% per year. There was also a steady growth in the number of operations over this time, and the capacity, range and diversity of products offered expanded markedly. High-speed modern vessels extended the range of a day trip to the reef to over 50 nautical miles. Tourism today
Tourism is now the largest commercial activity in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Generating over $1b per annum, the marine tourism industry is a major contributor to the local and Australian economies. About 1.6 million tourists now visit the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park each year.