Queensland Tourism Statistics

Page last updated: 11 October 2023

How many tourists visit Queensland each year?

Over 26.8 million tourists and other visitors travelled to Queensland in the year ending June 2023.
  • This total included over 1.5 million international visitors and over 25.2 million domestic overnight visitors
  • Visitors were up 22.2% when compared with the over 21 million visitors in 2022
  • Visitor numbers are down 4.4% when compared to the over 28 million visitors in pre-pandemic 2019

How much did tourists spend in Queensland during 2023?

Visitors spent over $33 billion during trips to Queensland in 2023 (year ending June 2023).
  • This total included over $4.3 billion from international visitors and over $28 billion from domestic overnight visitors
  • Spending is up 63% when compared with the over $20.3 billion spent during 2022
    • Spending has increased by 33.7% when compared with the over $24.7 billion spent in 2019

How many people visited Queensland in 2022?

Over 24.9 million travellers visited Queensland in 2022 (year ending September 2022).
  • This total was made up of 24.4 million domestic visitors and 519,746 international visitors
  • Total visitors increased by 22.6% when compared with the over 20.3 million of the previous year (year ending September 2021)

How much did visitors spend in Queensland in 2022?

Visitors spent over 25.7 billion during trips to Queensland in 2022 (year ending September 2022).
  • This total included $24.4 billion from domestic visitors and $1.3 billion from international visitors
  • Spending was up by 54.8% when compared with the over 16.6 billion spent during 2021 (year ending September 2021)

How many people visited Queensland in 2021?

Over 20.3 million travellers visited Queensland in 2021 (year ending September 2021).
  • This total was made up of 57,492 international visitors and over 20 million domestic visitors

How much did visitors spend in Queensland in 2021?

Visitors spent over $16.6 billion during trips to Queensland in 2021 (year ending September 2021).
  • This total included $190 million from international visitors and over $16.5 billion from domestic visitors

How many tourists visited Queensland in 2020?

Over 22.3 million travellers visited Queensland in the year ending June 2020 1
  • This total was made up of 20.4 million domestic visitors and 1.9 million international visitors
  • Total visitors saw an 11.8% decrease when compared to the 25.3 million of the 2018/19 year
    • The decrease is largely attributed to the impact of the coronavirus travel restrictions

Impact of the Coronavirus on Queensland Tourism Expenditure

International

International visitors spent an estimated total of $4.5 billion during trips to QLD in the year ending June 2020
  • International spending in Queensland was down 24% when compared with the $5.9 billion of the previous year

Domestic

Domestic visitors spent an estimated total of $15.2 billion during trips to Queensland in 2019/20
  • Domestic spending was down 18.8% when compared with the $18.8 billion of the previous year

Total

Combined, visitors spent a total of $19.7 billion during trips to QLD in the year ending June 2020
  • Total spending was down 20.2% when compared with the $24.7 billion of the previous year
Data source: TRA. Image credit: Camper Champ

How many tourists visited Queensland in 2019?

Over 28 million tourists and other visitors arrived in Queensland between July 2018 and June 2019.1

  • This total includes 2.8 million international visitors and 25.3 million domestic overnight visitors.

How much do tourists spend in Queensland?

  • Three Queensland locations have the highest average expenditure per night by international tourists in Australia. These include: Cairns, Tropical North Queensland and the Gold Coast
Data source: TRA. Image credit: Camper Champ

How many tourists visit Brisbane each year?

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

How many tourists visit the Gold Coast each year?

Data source: TRA. Image credit: Camper Champ, Gold Coast

Great Barrier Reef Tourism Statistics

How many tourists visit the Great Barrier Reef each year?

  • Over 2 million tourists visit the Great Barrier Reef each year.2
  • The majority of Great Barrier Reef tourism is concentrated in Cairns and the Whitsundays

How many tourists visit Cairns each year?

How many tourists visit the Whitsundays each year?

  • Over 757,000 visitors travelled to the Whitsundays in 2018.3

How much do visitors spend at the Whitsundays?

  • Visitors spent over $789 million during trips to the Whitsundays in 2018.

How long do visitors stay at the Whitsundays?

  • Visitors stayed for an average of 5 nights during trips to the Whitsundays in 2018.
  • Over 3.7 million visitor nights were spent at the Whitsundays in 2018.

How many tourists visit Magnetic Island each year?

  • Over 290,000 people visited Magnetic Island in 2018.4

How much do tourists spend at magnetic Island?

  • Visitors spent over $170 million during visits to Magnetic Island in 2018.

Travel Statistics Resources

References

  1. TRA: International Visitor Survey, National Visitor Survey↩
  2. Great Barrier Reef: Facts About the Great Barrier Reef ↩
  3. TRA: Local Government Area Profiles, Whitsunday, 2019↩
  4. AEC Magnetic Island Economic Analysis, 2019↩