NSW parks hit record visits

New South Wales national parks logged 65.5 million visits in the 2024–25 financial year, the highest total since the state began the survey in 2008. (abc.net.au) The New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service said the biggest rise came from people aged 24 to 35, whose share of visitors increased to 26 per cent from 19 per cent. The survey is run every two years and tracks how Australians use parks across the state. (abc.net.au; environment.nsw.gov.au) Blue Mountains National Park was the most visited park in the latest results, ahead of Royal National Park and Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. The previous record was just over 60.2 million visits in 2018. (abc.net.au; environment.nsw.gov.au) The long-term trend has been rising for more than a decade. Official park survey data shows total visits climbed from about 37.9 million in 2008 to 53.2 million in 2022, before setting the new high in 2024–25. (environment.nsw.gov.au; abc.net.au) That growth came despite a dip during the pandemic and after major disasters. The park agency says visitation in 2020 and 2022 was disrupted by COVID-19 restrictions, the 2019–20 bushfires and the 2022 eastern Australia floods. (environment.nsw.gov.au) The pressure lands on a park system that spans more than 890 parks and reserves across New South Wales. In 2023–24, the National Parks and Wildlife Service said it invested more than $240 million in visitor and operational infrastructure, its biggest investment on record. (wikipedia.org; nsw.gov.au) The visitor surge also sits inside a broader tourism upswing in the state. Destination NSW says New South Wales recorded 127.4 million total visitors and $60.4 billion in visitor expenditure in the year ending December 2025. (destinationnsw.com.au) One Sydney hiker, Pat Murray, told ABC he now sees more younger people joining community walks and messaging him after finding trails by public transport. The state’s latest park count suggests that shift is no longer anecdotal. (abc.net.au)