Adelaide Tourism Statistics

At a Glance

• 3.64 million overnight visitors travelled to Adelaide in 2025: 3.23 million domestic¹ and 404,000 international visitors².
• In the 12 months to June 2026, Adelaide had about 3.61 million overnight visits and 9.40 million day trips³.
• In the first half of 2026, Australians made about 3.91 million overnight trips in South Australia⁴, down 3% on a year earlier⁵, and spent about A$3.80 billion, up 15%⁴.
• Overnight visitors spent about A$5.21 billion in Adelaide in 2025: A$3.66 billion by domestic visitors¹ and A$1.55 billion by international visitors².
• International visitors stay about 29 nights on average, compared with 3.8 nights for interstate visitors and 2.6 nights for South Australians³.
• South Australians made 1.78 million overnight visits to Adelaide in the year to June 2026, ahead of 1.43 million from interstate³.
• The United Kingdom is South Australia's largest international market, with 68,000 visitors in the year to June 2026, ahead of the United States (49,000) and New Zealand (39,000)⁶.
• Adelaide Central Market draws about 8 million visitors a year⁷.

Over 3.6 million overnight visitors¹ travelled to Adelaide in 2025², and Australians made about 9.40 million day trips there in the year to June 2026³.

• About 3.23 million of them were domestic visitors¹.
• The other 404,000 or so came from overseas².
• The 2025 domestic figure comes from Tourism Research Australia's new Domestic Tourism Statistics survey, so it can't be compared directly with earlier years. On the old survey, Adelaide's 3.93 million domestic and international overnight visitors in 2024⁸⁹ matched its pre-pandemic 2019 level of 3.92 million¹⁰¹¹.

Overnight visitors spent about A$5.21 billion in Adelaide¹ in 2025².

• Domestic overnight visitors spent about A$3.66 billion of this¹, and international visitors roughly A$1.55 billion².
• International visitor spending in Adelaide rose 37% on 2024² and was 47% above its 2019 level¹⁰.

• International tourists spent an average of A$128 per night in Adelaide in the year ending June 2026¹².

How important is tourism to South Australia's economy?

Tourism directly contributed about A$4.5 billion to South Australia's economy in 2024–25, or 2.9% of gross state product, up 2.2% on 2023–24¹⁶.

• The industry directly employed about 39,200 people in South Australia, or 3.7% of the state's workforce¹⁶. Including indirect jobs, tourism supported 69,800 jobs.
• Visitors spent about A$12.0 billion in South Australia in the year to June 2026, and A$7.56 billion of it in Adelaide³.
• These figures come from the South Australian Tourism Commission's latest state tourism satellite account, which covers South Australia as a whole.

Visitors spent about 21.7 million nights in Adelaide in the year to June 2026, more than half of them (11.5 million) by international visitors³.

• International tourists stayed an average of 28.5 nights on trips to Adelaide in the year ending June 2026¹².
• Interstate visitors stayed 3.8 nights on average (5.43 million nights in all), and South Australians 2.6 nights (4.72 million nights)³.

The summer months are South Australia's busiest time for overnight stays. Australians made about 2.10 million overnight trips in the state in the March quarter of 2025 and spent 7.49 million nights there¹⁷, more than in any other quarter. The September quarter was the quietest, with 1.75 million trips.

• Day trips peaked later in the year, at about 4.25 million in the September quarter¹⁷.
• Overseas arrivals also peak in summer: February was the busiest month of 2026 so far, with 30,340 overseas visitors planning to stay mainly in South Australia¹⁴.
• These quarterly figures cover all of South Australia; they are not published for Adelaide alone.

Adelaide Central Market draws about 8 million visitors a year, according to the City of Adelaide⁷. Beyond the city, the Fleurieu Peninsula is South Australia's most visited region, with about 1.14 million overnight visits in the year to June 2026, followed by Yorke Peninsula (765,000) and the Limestone Coast (717,000)³.

• In the city itself, Adelaide Botanic Garden recorded 1,925,631 visits in 2024–25, boosted by the Chihuly exhibition²¹, while the South Australian Museum welcomed 693,241 onsite visitors²² and the Art Gallery of South Australia 504,373²³.
• More than 1.18 million fans went through the gates of Adelaide Oval during the 2026 AFL season²⁴.
• The Adelaide Hills and the Barossa draw more day-trippers than overnight visitors, with about 1.28 million and 1.00 million day trips a year³.
• Kangaroo Island had the fewest overnight visits of any region (107,000), but about a quarter of them (26,000) were by international visitors³.
• Regional figures come from Tourism Research Australia's new Domestic Tourism Statistics and can't be compared with earlier regional reports.

• In 2025, Adelaide was the 7th most popular destination for international tourists in Australia, with about 404,000 visitors², and the 10th most visited tourism region overall¹.

Australians took about 1.24 million caravan and camping trips in South Australia in 2024, down 1% on 2023, and spent about 4.37 million nights there, down 9%³⁰.

• Caravan and camping travellers chose shorter trips closer to home in 2024, which cut interstate travel to South Australia³⁰.
• These figures cover all of South Australia and are the latest available: the Caravan Industry Association's 2026 report, which covers 2025, publishes only national figures, with a state breakdown available on request.