Tasmania’s parks are driving the boom in visitor numbers to the State.
The Hodgman Government is investing in our parks to make them more accessible and user-friendly to locals and visitors alike.
The latest figures show that this investment is paying off, with visitor numbers up across the board.
Record numbers of visitors are flocking to Freycinet and Mount Field as the two parks celebrate 100 years since their reservation in 1916.
Visitors to Freycinet increased 16 per cent in 2015-16 to a record 272,000 visitors. Mount Field has seen a 28 per cent increase in visitation through the same period, which also brings it to a new record of 189,000 visitors.
At Cradle Mountain, the state’s second-most visited park, a total of 228,000 visitors were recorded, an increase of 15 per cent. Increases at other national parks include 17 per cent at Hastings Caves and 16 per cent at Tasman Arch in the Tasman National Park.
Importantly, the Three Capes Track is exceeding all expectations. So far, nearly 12,000 people have either walked the Track, or are booked to walk the Track. Of that more than half are from New South Wales and Victoria, twenty percent are from Tasmania and nearly 600 international bookings have been received from countries like Austria, Brazil, Indonesia, India, Spain and Sweden.
Another of Tasmania’s iconic walks, the Overland Track, has seen an increase of 16 per cent in walker numbers.
The growth coincides with a steady increase in visitor numbers to Tasmania, which hit a record 1.18 million interstate and international visitors for the 12 months to March 2016.
Matthew Groom, Minister for Environment, Parks and Heritage
