Over 9 million tourists visited Australia between July 2018 and June 2019, the highest number ever recorded.1
After years of steady growth, international visitors are expected to drop dramatically in 2020.
It is forecast that only 6.5 million international visitors will have arrived in Australia in the year ending June 2020, an annual decrease of 30%, approximately 2.8 million fewer than in the year before.
International visits for 2019/2020 are expected to reach 6,500,000 – a 30% drop of 2.8 million visitors from the previous year.
The Tourism & Transport Forum predicts a total decrease of 40% in international visitation during the months of January–June 2020, leading to a loss of $2 billion in tourism-related expenditure per month.5
January 2020 - Bushfire Impact
In January 2020 approximately 739,600 international visitors travelled to Australia.4
International visitors were down 5.1% when compared with the 779,500 of January 2019.
The drop can be partly attributed to the Australia bushfire crisis of 2019/2020.
February 2020 and the Impact of Coronavirus
Tourism in February saw a significant decrease in international visitation due to the effects of the coronavirus crisis.
In February 2020 approximately 647,000 international visitors travelled to Australia.
International visitors were down 18% when compared with the 796,100 visitors of February 2019.
March 2020 and the Impact of Travel Restrictions
International arrivals in March saw a dramatic decrease:
In March 2020 approximately 307,900 international visitors travelled to Australia which was a 59.9% drop when compared with the 768,200 visitors of March 2019.
On March 20th, Australia restricted entry to only citizens, residents and their immediate family.
On March 25th Australian citizens and residents were also banned from travelling overseas.
Impact of the Travel Ban on Chinese Visitors
In February 2020 visitors arriving from China decreased by 83% compared to the previous year (19,500 arrivals in February 2020 vs 116,900 visitors in February 2019).
The significant drop was the result of the coronavirus-related travel ban implemented by the Australian government on 1 February for non-citizens travelling from or through China.
February in the past has historically been the peak period for Chinese visitors to Australia.
How long do international tourists spend in Australia?
Tourists spent 273M visitor nights in Australia between July 2018 and June 2019.
The overall average length of stay was 32 nights.
Australia camping & campervan statistics
The number of camping trips throughout Australia has grown by 27.5% over the 10-year period from 2008 to 2018.5
In 2018 over 6.9 million overnight camping trips were made in Australia.
Camping trips – including caravan, campervan, commercial and non-commercial camping – made up 13.7% of visitor nights for domestic travellers in Australia in 2019 (year ending September)
