The Great Barrier Reef is known as the world’s largest coral reef system which has 900 islands as well as 2900 reefs. It spreads over 2300 kilometers. This reef has been located in Australia and is more than 200 feet deep. The reef is also known as the biggest structure made by living organisms. It even has its place in the Australian World Heritage Places. The Great Barrier Reef has a spectacular sight and is huge. We can evaluate more about this coral reef with the help of the following graphs.
Find Out More…
The Great Barrier Reef Size and Area
The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world spreading over 348,700 square kilometers. Its exact width is unknown but is expected to be between 60 and 250 kilometers. One thing for sure is that the reef continues to expand in size which is why the area and width are increasing constantly. The reef begins from 35 meters under the sea and goes up to 2000 meters deep. According to statistics, there are 150 inshore mangrove islands in The Great Barrier Reef.
Corals in The Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is a home to different types of corals all of which are continuously increasing as the reef expands. According to the latest figures, there are 3000 individual coral reefs and expected to increase by 200 in the next 5 years. There are 300 coral cays while the hard and soft coral reefs are over 600. The exact figure for these corals is unknown. Some sources suggest that the actual number of reefs could be even higher as there are studies undergoing to learn and investigate more about The Great Barrier Reef.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Tourism
The following graphs show the level of tourism activities that take place in The Great Barrier Reef Marine Tourism Park. Earlier, we can see that there was a more inclination toward coral viewing but with time, tourism companies also started different types of scenic flights on The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. In 2011-2012, there were over 200,000 coral viewings while there were 28,250 scenic flights. The number maxed in 2017-2018 when the coral viewings were more than 260,000 and the scenic flights were over 100,000. It then dropped TO 53,000 and 51,000, respectively, by the year 2020-2021.
The second graph shows the time spent by tourists at The Great Barrier Reef Marine Tourism Park. Some prefer going for part-days but most prefer going on a full-day tour as there is so much to explore. Statistics show that in 2011-2012, there were more than 177,000 part-day visitors while the full-day visitors were more than 1.2 million. The number maxed in 2017-2018 when the part-day visitors were close to 226,000 and the full-day visitors were more than 1.72 million. This number then reduced in 2020-2021 when the part-day visitors did not show a major fall and reached 220,000 but full-day visitors fell majorly to 655,000 visitors.
