We conduct a population-wide survey every 2 years to gather information from Australian residents about their use of NSW national parks.
Information is collected on how many, and which parks survey participants visit, the activities and experiences they undertake, their levels of satisfaction and so on.
The survey helps us with park management and planning for visitor facilities.
Survey results are summarised below.
Park visitation trends
Domestic visits
Domestic visitation to national parks in New South Wales grew by over 23% from 2022 and is up by almost 9% from the previous peak achieved in 2018, reaching more than 65 million visits in 2024/25.
| Park visitation by year | Adult visitation | Child visitation | Total visitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 31,128,875 | 6,798,741 | 37,927,616 |
| 2010 | 27,262,279 | 6,581,347 | 33,843,626 |
| 2012 | 28,745,337 | 6,750,287 | 35,495,624 |
| 2014 | 31,674,661 | 7,761,387 | 39,436,048 |
| 2016 | 40,103,897 | 11,558,047 | 51,661,944 |
| 2018 | 45,333,817 | 14,902,193 | 60,236,009 |
| 2020 | 38,541,509 | 11,543,729 | 50,085,238 |
| 2022 | 40,499,303 | 12,506,400 | 53,163,728 |
| 2024/25 | 53,091,099 | 12,499,013 | 65,590,112 |
International visits
Tourism Research Australia data shows that in 2024/25, 72% of international visitors to NSW visited at least one NSW national park. This equates to 2.8 million unique visitors and over 4 million visits.
Please note all further commentary in this summary relates to domestic visitation.
Most visited parks
| Park | 2024/25 visits |
|---|---|
| Blue Mountains | 7,828,608 |
| Royal | 4,907,255 |
| Ku-ring-gai Chase | 4,302,126 |
| Lane Cove | 2,399,260 |
| Kosciuszko | 2,355,402 |
| Sydney Harbour | 2,208,696 |
| Brisbane Water | 2,068,192 |
| Morton | 1,889,384 |
| Bouddi | 1,573,516 |
| Glenrock | 1,564,384 |
| Tomaree | 1,442,481 |
| Kamay Botany Bay | 1,405,052 |
| Garigal | 1,388,905 |
| Eurobodalla | 1,305,299 |
| Berowra Valley | 1,184,377 |
| Worimi Conservation Lands | 1,164,024 |
| Illawarra Escarpment | 1,112,495 |
| Coffs Coast | 1,040,218 |
| Cape Byron | 997,706 |
| Georges River | 963,684 |
Where domestic visitors come from
Intrastate visitation comprised 84% of all visits, with 16% of visits from interstate, including 3.4% from Melbourne.
| Origin | Adults | Children | Total visits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 34,680,797 | 7,455,599 | 42,136,397 |
| Regional NSW | 10,790,569 | 1,889,164 | 12,679,733 |
| Total Intrastate | 45,471,366 | 9,344,763 | 54,816,130 |
| ACT | 1,376,038 | 316,092 | 1,692,130 |
| Melbourne | 1,494,277 | 766,545 | 2,260,821 |
| Regional VIC | 854,979 | 339,337 | 1,194,316 |
| Brisbane | 1,397,195 | 558,334 | 1,955,529 |
| Regional QLD | 1,762,364 | 385,473 | 2,147,837 |
| Adelaide | 194,780 | 145,431 | 340,212 |
| Regional SA & NT | 303,790 | 455,563 | 759,353 |
| Perth | 54,898 | 24,161 | 79,059 |
| Regional WA | 38,454 | 23,813 | 62,267 |
| Hobart | 51,325 | 34,500 | 85,825 |
| Regional TAS | 91,632 | 105,001 | 196,633 |
| Total Interstate | 7,619,732 | 3,154,250 | 10,773,982 |
| Total | 53,091,099 | 12,499,013 | 65,590,112 |
Tourism generation
44% of NSW national park visitors indicated that the only reason for their trip was to visit the park. Another 17% of visitors indicated that the park was the main reason for their trip.
Age of visitors
This chart shows the demographic spread of adult visitors to NSW national parks in survey years.
Visitor satisfaction
The proportion of visitors who were very satisfied with their most recent park experience in 2024/25 was 55% with an additional 34% being satisfied. Net satisfaction remains a very high 89%.
Data sources
2024-25 survey
In the financial year 2024 to 2025, the Parks Visitation Survey (PVS) shifted from a fully interviewer-assisted telephone survey to a multi-mode data collection embedded within Roy Morgan’s Single Source. This was made up of a short telephone survey followed by a detailed self-completed online survey.
Most notably, residents of South Australia, Western Australia, Northern Territory and Tasmania were surveyed for the first time. Previously, only residents of the eastern seaboard were surveyed, and visitation from other states was estimated.
Anonymised mobile device movement data was also incorporated to inform measures such as seasonal visitation and visit estimates for some individual parks.
For more information on the 2024-25 survey, read Annual Visits to NSW NPWS Managed Parks in New South Wales 2024-25 (PDF 2.1MB)
2022 survey
Annual Visits to NSW NPWS Managed Parks in New South Wales 2022 (PDF 3.41MB).
2020 survey
Annual Visits to NSW NPWS Managed Parks in New South Wales 2020 (PDF 3MB)
2018 survey
Annual Visits to NSW NPWS Managed Parks in New South Wales 2018 (PDF 2.7MB)