New Zealand Tourism in Australia - Statistics [2022-2023]

Updated: 11 October 2023

How many New Zealand tourists visit Australia each year?

Over 978,000 New Zealand tourists and other visitors travelled to Australia in 2023 (year ending June 2023).
  • Visitors from New Zealand increased by 452% when compared with the over 177,000 who made the journey in 2022
  • Visitors are down 30% compared to the peak of over 1.4 million who visited in 2019
  • New Zealand was the highest source of visitors to Australia during 2023
Data source: TRA. Image credit: Camper Champ

How much did visitors from New Zealand spend in 2023?

Visitors from New Zealand spent a total of over $2.7 billion during trips to Australia in 2023 (year ending June 2023).
  • Spending was up 495% when compared to the $457 million spent during 2022
  • Spending has increased 5.5% compared to the over $2.5 billion spent during pre-Covid 2019
  • Visitors from New Zealand were the fourth highest spenders in Australia during 2023
Data source: TRA. Image credit: Camper Champ

How many New Zealand tourists visited Australia in 2020?

Over 1 million visitors from New Zealand travelled to Australia for the year ending June 20201
  • New Zealand was the highest source of visitors to Australia for 2019/20
  • Visitors from New Zealand decreased by 26.8% when compared with the 1.4 million of the previous year
  • 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 New Zealand Tourist Expenditure

New Zealand visitors spent an estimated $1.9 billion during visits to Australia in the year ending June 2020
  • Spending was down 25.8% when compared with the $2.6 billion of the previous year
Data source: TRA. Image credit: Camper Champ

How many New Zealand tourists visited Australia in 2019?

Over 1.4 million New Zealand tourists visited Australia between July 2018 and June 2019. The number of New Zealand visitors has continued to grow at a steady rate since 2013.1

New Zealand toppled as Australia's top tourism source

  • Up until 2017/18, New Zealand had the highest volume of visitors to Australia.
  • In 2017/18, China overtook New Zealand as Australia’s top tourist source, with New Zealand visitors numbering 1.3 million and China with 1.4 million.
  • This trend continued in 2018/19, with China numbering 1.43 million and New Zealand with 1.40 million, respectively.
Growth of New Zealand and Chinese visitors to Australia between 1990 and 2019.
Data source: ABS. Image credit: Camper Champ, NZ
  • New Zealand tourism grew by 2.6% in 2018/19 compared with the slower Chinese growth of 0.8%. The highest growth that year was India with 11.1%.
  • New Zealand and China are still well ahead of other countries, with the next-highest country being the USA with 811,900 visitors to Australia.

New Zealand's share in the Australian tourism industry

  • New Zealand contributes over 15% of visitors to Australia.

Top countries that sent visitors to Australia in 2019

Data source: ABS. Image credit: Camper Champ

Why do so many New Zealanders visit Australia?

  • The close proximity of Australia, as well as lower visa requirements for NZ citizens, make Australia an attractive destination for many.
  • A large number of New Zealanders also reside in Australia, making it a popular destination to visit friends and family.
  • The majority of New Zealand tourists are return visitors to Australia and cite visiting friends and family as one of the most popular reasons to return.
Data Source: TRA. Image Credit: Camper Champ, NZ

New Zealand's contribution to tourism expenditure in Australia

  • At an estimated $2.6B in 2018/19, NZ accounted for about 5.7% of all expenditure from international tourists, ranking 4th on the list of top spenders in Australia.2
Australian tourism top spenders in 2019 by country.
Data source: TRA. Image credit: Camper Champ

Top New Zealand Travel Trends in 2019

What do New Zealand tourists spend on in Australia?

  • New Zealanders have above average spending on food, drink and accomodation second only to the USA.
  • Holidaymakers spend the most, contributing over 1.1B to total spending.
Australian visitor spends per day in 2019 (by country)
Data source: ABS. Image credit: Camper Champ

How long do New Zealanders stay in Australia?

  • The average length of stay was 10 days per visit – very low when compared with the overall average of 32.
    • The reason for this could be attributed to the most popular reason to visit (visiting friends and relatives) and the close proximity of New Zealand to Australia.
  • This places NZ near the bottom when it comes to average length of stay.

New Zealanders’ travel patterns and Australia’s share

  • Around 75% of New Zealanders hold a passport, and international travel continues to rise each year.3
  • Australia continues to be the most popular tourist destination for New Zealand citizens.4
  • China and the USA are also popular destinations for New Zealanders, but Australia continues to lead by a wide margin.

Travel Statistics Resources

Statistics by Location

Global Statistics

References

  1. ABS: Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia ↩
  2. TRA: International Visitor Survey, ↩
  3. DIA: High demand for 10-year passports, December 2015 ↩
  4. OECD: Tourism Trends and Policies, 2018 ↩