Sunshine Coast Tourism Statistics

Sunshine Coast tourism at a glance (2025)

• 4.58 million overnight visitors in 2025: 4.27 million domestic¹ and 301,000 international².
• Overnight visitors spent about AU$3.9 billion: AU$3.4 billion domestic¹ and AU$475.5 million international².
• 93.4% of overnight visitors were domestic¹.
• International visitors stayed 12.2 nights on average², against 3 nights for domestic visitors¹.
• 54.8% of domestic overnight visitors came for a holiday¹.

The Sunshine Coast hosted about 4.58 million overnight visitors in 2025, made up of 4.27 million domestic¹ and 301,000 international² visitors. Outside the COVID-19 pandemic, the region has drawn over 4 million overnight visitors a year.

• The Sunshine Coast recorded 4.38 million overnight visitors in 2019³.
• Due to the pandemic, it dropped to 3.09 million in 2020³ and slightly increased to 3.52 million in 2021.
• In 2022, domestic overnight visitation rose to near pre-pandemic levels at 4.21 million⁴ (no international figure was published for the region that year).
• The region hosted 4.5 million overnight visitors⁵ in 2023⁶.
• Visitors decreased by 3.5% (4.34 million)⁵ in 2024⁶.
• From 2025, domestic figures come from Tourism Research Australia's new Domestic Tourism Statistics survey, so they are not directly comparable with earlier years.

Where do Sunshine Coast visitors come from?

• In 2025, 93.4% of overnight visitors were domestic¹, about 74% from elsewhere in Queensland and 19% from interstate², while 6.6% (301,000) were international. Most interstate visitors came from New South Wales (384,000) and Victoria (343,000).
• In 2024, 92.8%⁵ of the total visitors were domestic⁶: 69% of all visitors were intrastate visitors,⁸ and 23.8% were interstate visitors.
• The remaining 7.2%⁵ were international visitors.⁶ In 2024, the latest year with a market breakdown, New Zealand was the top origin of international visitors, followed by the UK, USA, Germany and the Netherlands. These top five markets accounted for 210,000 visitors.⁸
  • New Zealand: 84,000 visitors
  • UK: 70,000 visitors
  • USA: 23,000 visitors
  • Germany: 22,000 visitors
  • Netherlands: 11,000 visitors

• Noosa National Park is one of Australia’s most visited national parks, with more than 1.4 million visitors a year⁹.
• Despite operating only two days a week, Eumundi Markets draws more than 1.6 million visitors a year¹⁰.
• Australia Zoo has reported well over 700,000 visitors a year, a figure dating from 2010¹¹.
• The hinterland towns of Montville and Maleny are major draws: in Booking.com’s 2022 Traveller Review Awards, Maleny was named Australia’s most welcoming town for the second year running and Montville ranked ninth¹².
• Award-winning beaches, including Mooloolaba Beach, ranked #4 in Australia in 2019 and Noosa Main Beach, ranked #7¹³, remain central to the region’s tourism appeal.

Most of the tourists visit the Sunshine Coast for their holiday travel.

• In 2025, more than half of domestic overnight visitors (54.8%)¹ came for a holiday, while over one-third (36.9%) came to visit friends and relatives.
• In 2024, more than half of the tourists (54.7%)⁸ visited the Sunshine Coast for their holiday travel, while nearly one-third (34.2%) visited to meet their friends and relatives.

Tourism supported about 29,700 jobs on the Sunshine Coast², according to Tourism and Events Queensland's regional tourism satellite account for 2022–23.

• Domestic visitors spent AU$4.2 billion¹ in the region in 2025, overnight stays and day trips combined. That is 11% of all domestic visitor spending in Queensland.
• International visitors added a further AU$475.5 million².