Australia Tourism Statistics | How many visit? (2024)

Page last updated: 26 June 2025

Table of Contents

How many tourists visit Australia each year?

Over 7.63 million international visitors travelled to Australia in 2024 (year ending December). This reflects a 15% increase from approximately 6.64 million in 2023.⁷

However, international arrivals remained about 12% below the 2019 peak of 8.71 million.

Data source: TRA, ABS. Image credit: Camper Champ

Who visited Australia in 2024?

In the year ending December 2024, the largest source of international visitors was New Zealand, with around 1.26 million arrivals, followed by China with about 829,000 visitors. ⁸

Other leading markets included the United States (669,000), the United Kingdom (605,000), and India (421,000).
The number of visitors from China was still roughly 38% below 2019 levels (when there were 1.33 million Chinese visitors).

New Zealand visitation approached 97% of its pre-pandemic volume (1.30 million in 2019).

Data source: TRA, ABS. Image credit: Camper Champ

How much did tourists spend in Australia in 2024?

International visitors spent a total of A$48.87 billion in Australia during the year ending December 2024, from 7.63 million trips. ⁹

This marked about a 13% increase from the previous year’s international expenditure of A$43.27 billion.
Notably, international spending in 2024 surpassed the pre-pandemic peak of A$45.38 billion by approximately 8%.

Total Visitor Spending in Australia

Year Ending December (AUD Billion)

Year	International	Domestic	Total
2019	A$45.38 B	A$80.69 B	A$126.07 B
2023	A$43.27 B	A$109.33 B	A$152.60 B
2024	A$48.87 B	A$110.30 B	A$159.17 B

Who spent the most in Australia in 2024?

Chinese visitors were the highest spenders in 2024, contributing about A$8.07 billion in total trip expenditure.

Following China, the top spenders were visitors from the United Kingdom (A$2.20 billion), New Zealand (A$2.06 billion), the United States (A$1.99 billion), and India (A$1.66 billion).
Other leading markets included Korea (A$1.57 billion), Japan (A$1.44 billion), Singapore (A$1.09 billion), Indonesia (A$1.00 billion), and Taiwan (A$900 million).

Data source: TRA, ABS. Image credit: Camper Champ

How many tourists visited Australia in 2023?

Over 6.11 million visitors travelled to Australia in 2023 (year ending September 2023).

2019 still holds the record for the highest number of visitors, with over 8.66 million travelling to Australia during that period (year ending September 2019)
Despite seeing steady growth, visitor numbers are still 14% lower than those during the all-time peak
Data for the 2021 period has not been seasonally adjusted.

Who visited Australia in 2023?

The highest number of visitors in 2023 came from New Zealand at 978,000.

The top five visitor markets in 2023 were New Zealand, the UK, the USA, India, and Singapore.
China, previously one of the top visitor markets for Australia, has seen a decline in visitors during the post-pandemic period with only 235,000 visits over the 12 months ending in June 2023.

How much did international visitors spend in 2023?

International visitors spent over $34 billion during trips to Australia in 2023 (year ending June 2023).

Spending was up 391% when compared to the over $7 billion spent during 2022.
Spending is down 22.8% when compared with the over $44.6 billion spent during pre-pandemic 2019.
Complete data is not available for 2021 due to low reporting numbers.

Who spent the most in Australia in 2023?

Chinese were the top spenders at over $4.1 billion (year ending June 2023).
The top five spenders were China, the USA, the UK, New Zealand, and India.

How many tourists visited Australia in 2022?

Over 2 million tourists visited Australia in 2022 (year ending September 2022).⁶

International visitors increased by over 1200% when compared with the previous year. This was primarily due to the gradual reopening of Australia’s borders, beginning in November 2021.
In March 2020, Australia closed its international borders to all non-residents.
From August 2020 – September 2021, visitors to Australia were at an all-time low, with only 155,579 international travellers visiting during that time.
Australia began to reopen its borders in November 2021, with a complete lifting of travel restrictions taking place in July 2022.
Numbers are still significantly low when compared with the pre-covid period. For the year ending September 2019, Australia received a total of over 8.6 million international visitors.

Who visited Australia in 2022?

The most visitors to Australia for the year ending September 2022 came from New Zealand, at over 382,000.

The top five international markets for Australia in 2022 were: New Zealand, India, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and the USA.
China, previously one of the top sources of international visitors to Australia, fell out of the top five in 2022, with only just over 62 thousand making the trip.
While seeing a significant increase when compared with 2021, numbers are still much lower when compared with the pre-covid period.

How much did international tourists spend in Australia in 2022?

International tourists spent over $12.7 billion during trips to Australia for the year ending September 2022.

Spending was up over 800% when compared with the $1.3 billion spent during the previous year (year ending September 2021).
Visitors from China were the top spenders, spending over $1.5 billion during trips to Australia in 2022
Spending was down 71% when compared with the over $45 billion spent during the pre covid period (year ending September 2019)

How many tourists visited Australia in 2019?

Over 9.3 million tourists visited Australia between July 2018 and June 2019, the highest number ever recorded.¹

Data source: ABS. Image credit: Camper Champ

How many tourists visited Australia in 2021?

Complete data during the COVID period is not available. For the most accurate available 12-month reporting period – over 60,200 people visited Australia between April 2020 and March 2021.

Visitors were down 99.3% when compared to the over 8 million visitors of the previous year.

How much did visitors spend in Australia in 2021?

Visitors to Australia spent more than $794 million between April 2020 and March 2021.

Spending was down 98.1% when compared to the over $41 billion spent during the previous year.
Visitors from the US spent the most, spending just over $115 million during visits to Australia in 2021.

Who visited Australia in 2021?

Complete data during the COVID period is not available. For the most accurate available 12-month reporting period – April 2020 and March 2021 – the highest number of visitors came from New Zealand with over 13,000 making trips during this period.

The top 5 countries from which visitors came to Australia in this period were New Zealand, USA, UK, India and China.

How many people travelled domestically in Australia in 2021?

In the first quarter of 2021 (January-March), Australians made over 24.6 million domestic overnight trips.

Domestic travel was up 1.1% when compared with the over 24.3 million domestic overnight trips for the first quarter of 2020.

How much did Australians spend travelling in 2021?

Domestic travellers spent over $17.89 billion during trips throughout Australia in the first quarter of 2021 (January-March).

Spending was up 0.4% when compared with the $17.81 billion spent during the first quarter of 2020.

Australian Tourism Statistics 2020

How many tourists visited Australia in 2020?

Over 9.3 million tourists visited Australia in 2019 (year ending June 2019).

In 2020 the number of international visitors to Australia dropped to 6.7 million due to COVID-19 travel restrictions (year ending June 2020).¹

A further decrease in annual tourism was seen in 2021 (complete data for 2021 is not available due to low reporting numbers).

In 2020 the number of international visitors to Australia went down by 27% compared to the previous year. This marked a year-on-year decrease of over 2.6 million visits.
2019 holds the record for the highest number of travellers visiting Australia in any year up to date.
The dramatic drop in annual visits in 2020 was caused primarily by the coronavirus pandemic and related travel restrictions introduced in March 2020.
Australian international tourism spend amounted to $44.6 billion in 2019 and saw a decrease of 25.2% in 2020 to $33.3 billion, significantly impacting the Australian tourism industry.

Who visited Australia in 2020?

The most visitors to Australia in 2019/2020 came from New Zealand, at just over 1 million.
- For the previous two years, China had been the main source of visitors to Australia.
- The travel ban placed on Chinese visitors in early 2020 as well as the following coronavirus restrictions resulted in a larger relative drop in Chinese visitors than New Zealand visitors in the 2019/2020 year.
The top 5 markets in 2020 were New Zealand, China, the USA, the UK and Japan.
- All five of the top markets saw a large decrease in visitors due to the coronavirus restrictions.

Data source: ABS. Image credit: Camper Champ

Impact of the Coronavirus on International Tourism Expenditure

International visitors spent a total of $33.3 billion during trips to Australia for the year ending June 2020.

Spending was down 25% when compared to the $44.6 billion of the previous year.

Data source: TRA. Image credit: Camper Champ

January 2020 – Bushfire Impact

In January 2020 approximately 739,600 international visitors travelled to Australia.⁴
International visitor numbers were down 5.1% when compared with the 779,500 of January 2019.
The drop can be partly attributed to the Australia bushfires crisis of 2019/2020, impacting Australian tourism businesses and hospitality sector even before the COVID-19 crisis.

February 2020 and the Impact of Coronavirus

February saw a significant decrease in international tourism 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, significantly impacting Australia’s tourism industry:

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 Tourists

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.

Impact of coronavirus on international visitors to Australia in the second half of 2020

For the 2nd half of the year (July – December) Australia received a total of 32,740 international visitors.

During that same period the previous year (July – December, 2019) Australia received over 4.9 million international visitors.
For the second half of 2020, international visitors were down 99.3% when compared with 2019.

How did the coronavirus affect domestic travel?

In the second half of 2020 (July to December) Australians made over 38 million domestic trips.

For the same period the previous year (July – December 2019) Australians made over 57 million domestic trips.
Domestic trips saw a decrease of 33.8% during this time period.
Despite lower travel volumes during the first part of 2020, domestic trips began to see an increase during the final quarter of the year.

Data source: TRA. Image credit: Camper Champ

Australia Inbound Travel Statistics for 2019 – International & Domestic Tourism

Who visited Australia in 2019?

The highest number of visitors came from China, at over 1.4 million.

Data source: ABS. Image credit: Camper Champ

Up until 2016, New Zealand was the top source of tourist arrivals for Australia, but that spot was then held by China for 2 years.

Data source: ABS. Image credit: Camper Champ

What were the most popular tourist destinations in Australia in 2019?

The most popular destination for both international tourism and domestic visitors was Sydney, with over 16 million visitors.²

Data source: TRA. Image credit: Camper Champ

How much did international tourists spend in Australia in 2019?

International tourists spent a total of $44.6 billion in Australia between July 2018 and June 2019.³
Chinese were the top spenders at $11.9 billion, nearly triple the amount of the next-highest spenders (Americans at $4 billion).

Data source: TRA. Image credit: Camper Champ

International visitors spent an average of $5,183 per trip, an average expenditure of $163 per night.
Holidaymakers contributed the most overall with $16.9 billion spent.

Data source: TRA. Image credit: Camper Champ

Which Australian destinations had the highest visitor spend?

Sydney had the highest visitor spend receiving a combined $19.5 billion from both international and domestic visitors between July 2018 and June 2019.
Melbourne also ranked high at a combined $17.0 billion.

Data source: TRA. Image credit: Camper Champ

How long do international tourists spend in Australia?

Tourists spent 273 million visitor nights in Australia between July 2018 and June 2019.
The overall average length of stay was 32 nights.

Australian camping & campervan statistics

The number of camping trips throughout Australia has grown significantly in recent years. In 2024, 15.2 million camping trips where made in Australia, more than double the number of trips made in 2018 (6.9 million)
Over $14 billion was spent during camping trips in Australia in 2024.

Find out more about recent camping statistics in Australia as well as glamping trends.

Australia Travel Resources

Australian Outbound Tourism Statistics

Spending Trends & Changes Over Time

Pre-pandemic (2010-2019): Australians were spending over $65 billion annually on international travel. The average spend per trip varied depending on destination but often exceeded $5,000 per person for long-haul destinations.
Pandemic (2020-2021): With international borders closed, outbound travel spending plummeted to near zero, and domestic travel saw a sharp increase.
Post-pandemic (2022-Present): International travel has rebounded to near-prepandemic levels. However travel is impacted by airfare price increases, as well as increasing household debt levels, as reported by CheckRate.

Outbound Trips

2019 (Pre-pandemic peak): Outbound departures peaked at around 11 million trips
2020-2021: Outbound tourism drops to near zero due to border restrictions
2022-Present: Recovery, with 2023 outbound departures reaching around 9-10 million but still slightly below pre-pandemic levels.

Where did Australian tourists visit in 2019?

Australian tourists and travellers made over 9.5 million overseas trips in the year ending in June 2019.⁴
The most popular destination was New Zealand, with over 1.2 million trips alone.
Indonesia (Bali), the US (Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco) and the UK (London, Scotland), were also popular destinations.

Data source: TRA. Image credit: Camper Champ

Travel Statistics Resources

International Tourism – Visitor Statistics

Statistics by Location

Global Statistics

New Zealand Tourism Statistics

References

ABS: Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia, June 2020 ↩
TRA: International Visitor Survey, National Visitor Survey, 2020 ↩
TRA: International Visitor Survey, Trends 2019, National Visitor Survey, Trends 2020 ↩
ABS: Arrivals and departures: Visitor arrivals, short-term trips (seasonally adjusted) March 2020↩
TTF: Estimated impact of Coronavirus on the Australian visitor economy↩
TRA: International Visitor Survey, September 2022↩
ABS: Overseas arrivals and departures, Australia 2023 & 2024 ↩
ABS: Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia, June 2024 ↩
TRA: International tourism results, Australia, March 2024 ↩