It is Belize's top tourist destination, popular for scuba diving and snorkeling and attracting almost half of its 260,000 visitors.

It totals 960 square kilometres (370 sq mi) in area, including: In 1996 the reserve system was designated a World Heritage Site due to its vulnerability and the fact that it contains the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity (according to criteria VII, IX, and X).

[6] Despite these protective measures, the reef remains under threat from oceanic pollution as well as uncontrolled tourism, shipping, and fishing.

Other threats include hurricanes, along with global warming and the resulting increase in ocean temperatures,[7] which causes coral bleaching.

The first mass bleaching occurred in 1995, with an estimated mortality of 10 percent of coral colonies, according to a report by the Coastal Zone Management Institute in Belize.