Table 1. Annual tourist visitation and tourism receipt in Wolong Nature Reserve from 1996 to 2007.
| Year | Annual tourist visitation (1000 tourist) | Annual tourism receipts (Million Yuana) | Major events related to tourism development |
| 1996 | 20.0 | No data | |
| 1997 | 30.4 | 1.4 | |
| 1998 | 52.4 | 2.0 | The Wolong Nature Reserve Master Plan was approved. |
| 1999 | 66.7 | 3.2 | A provincial highway that connected the reserve to the capital city of Sichuan province was completed. |
| 2000 | 108.1 | 12.0 | The Wolong Nature Reserve Ecotourism Master Plan was approved by the provincial government. |
| 2001 | 90.0 | 6.8 | |
| 2002 | 82.0 | 7.1 | The Wolong Nature Reserve Ecotourism Master Plan was approved by the central government. |
| 2003 | 66.0 | 5.9 | SARS outbreak in China severely affected international and domestic tourism. |
| 2004 | 163.4 | 29.4 | The construction of Wolong Hotel, the only four-star hotel in the reserve, was completed. |
| 2005 | 206.1 | 37.1 | |
| 2006 | 235.5 | 42.4 | The Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries World heritage site was officially designated by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and a new round of road upgrade construction started. |
| 2007 | 115.1 | 20.7 | |
| 2008 | 13.0 | No data | The Wenchuan Earthquake (7.9 Mw) struck the reserve on May 12th. |
a
1 Yuan was equivalent to 0.1200 and 0.1466 US dollars in 1996 and 2008 respectively.