Japanese Tourism in Australia - Statistics [2022-2023]

Updated: 10 October 2023

How many Japanese tourists visit Australia each year?

Over 162,000 visitors from Japan travelled to Australia in 2023 (year ending June 2023)
  • Visitors were up 980% when compared to the estimated 15,000 who travelled during 2022
  • Visitor numbers are 63.5% lower than the 445,000 who visited during pre-Covid 2019
  • Japan was the 7th highest source of visitors to Australia in 2023
Data source: TRA. Image credit: Camper Champ

How much did Japanese tourists spend in Australia in 2023?

Visitors from Japan spent over $1.1 billion during trips to Australia in 2023 (year ending June 2023)

  • Spending was up over 952% when compared with the $150 million spent during 2022
  • Although steadily improving, spending from Japanese visitors is down 46% when compared with the over $2 billion spent during pre-pandemic 2019
Data source: TRA. Image credit: Camper Champ

How many Japanese tourists visited Australia in 2022?

Over 41 thousand Japanese tourists visited Australia in 2022 (year ending September 2022).
  • Visitors from Japan were up over 3000% when compared with the 1,295 of the previous year (year ending September 2021)
  • Despite a dramatic increase, visitors are still down over 90% when compared with the 455,426 visitors in 2019 (year ending September 2019)

How much did Japanese tourists spend in Australia in 2022?

​Visitors from Japan spent over 255 million during trips to Australia in 2022 (year ending September 2022).
  • Spending was up over 1700% when compared with the 14 million spent the previous year (year ending September 2021)
  • Spending is down 87% when compared with the over $2.1 billion spent during pre-pandemic 2019 (year ending September 2019)

How many Japanese tourists visited Australia in 2021?

1,295 visitors from Japan travelled to Australia in 2021 (year ending September 2021).
  • Visitors were down 99.7% when compared with the 455,426 of the previous year (year ending September 2019)
  • The lower number can be attributed to the pandemic and covid related travel restrictions

How much did Japanese visitors spend in 2021?

Japanese visitors spent over 14 million during trips to Australia in 2021 (year ending September 2021),
  • Spending was down 99.3% when compared with the over 2.1 billion spent during 2019

How many Japanese tourists visited Australia in 2020?

An estimated 375,370 visitors from Japan travelled to Australia for the year ending June 2020.1
  • Visitors from Japan decreased by 22.4% when compared with the 484,000 of the previous year
  • Japan was the 5th highest source of visitors to Australia in 2019/20
  • The effects of the coronavirus travel restrictions are the main cause of this dramatic decrease
Data source: ABS. Image credit: Camper Champ

Impact of the Coronavirus on Japanese Tourist Expenditure

Japanese visitors spent an estimated $1.57 billion during visits to Australia in the year ending June 2020
  • Spending was down 25% when compared with the $2.04 billion of the previous year
Data source: TRA. Image credit: Camper Champ

How many Japanese tourists visited Australia in 2019?

Over 484,000 Japanese tourists visited Australia between July 2018 and June 2019.1

Japanese tourism through the years

  • Since peaking in 1995/96 with 813,500 visitors, Japanese tourism has generally been on the decline and only started to increase again in 2013/14.
  • Although Japanese tourism saw a 9.4% increase during the 2018/19 year, the current total is still 40% lower than the ’90s peak.
Japanese visitors to Australia between 1990 and 2019.
Data source: ABS. Image credit: Camper Champ

Why has Japanese tourism struggled through the years?

  • The economic situation is believed to be a major contributing factor to the lower numbers of tourists.
  • Japan’s economy has largely stagnated since the late ’90s, and average weekly earnings have not seen a dramatic change.2
  • On the other hand, Australia has had impressive economic performance over the last two decades and average weekly earnings have increased dramatically.
  • As wages have increased, so have prices in Australia, which has made Australia a much more expensive destination for Japanese tourists.
Australia and Japan average yearly wage between 1990 and 2019.
Data source: OECD. Image credit: Camper Champ

Japan's share in the Australian tourism industry

  • Japan accounted for 5.3% of all tourism in Australia during the 2018/19 year, being the 5th-largest source of visitors.

Top countries that sent visitors to Australia in 2019

Data source: ABS. Image credit: Camper Champ

Reasons Japanese tourists visit Australia

  • Holidays are cited as the most common reason Japanese tourists visit Australia.
  • The next most popular reasons are business and visiting friends and relatives.
Data Source: TRA. Image Credit: Camper Champ

Japan's contribution to tourism expenditure in Australia

  • At an estimated $2B in 2018/19, Japan accounted for 4.6% of all expenditure from international tourists, ranking 5th on Australia’s top list of spenders.3
Australian tourism top spenders in 2019 by country.
Data source: TRA. Image credit: Camper Champ

What do Japanese tourists spend on in Australia?

  • Japanese tourists have above average spending on tours and transport, with holidaymakers contributing the most to overall spending.
Australian visitor spends per day in 2019 (by country)
Data source: TRA. Image credit: Camper Champ

Japan's travel patterns and Australia's share

  • Despite having one of the strongest passports in the world, currently only around 25% of Japanese citizens own a passport.4
  • Taiwan, South Korea and Hawaii have been the top three travel destinations for Japanese tourists since 2008.
  • Australia ranked 9th on the list, according to one 2018 survey.
  • Australia ranked 6th on a list of places Japanese tourists would like to visit, indicating numbers could rise in the coming years.

Travel Statistics Resources

References

  1. ABS: Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia, August 2019 ↩
  2. OECD: Average Wage Data, 2018 ↩
  3. TRA: International Visitor Survey ↩
  4. Henley Passport Index: Global Ranking, 2019 ↩
  5. Nippon.com: Taiwan the Top Overseas Destination for Japanese Travelers, November 2019 ↩