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Domestic tourism October 2023

Tourism Research Australia’s (TRA’s) monthly snapshots estimate tourism activity in the related month. We also produce quarterly and annual summaries.

This report compares the month of October 2023 with October 2022 unless stated otherwise.

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Overnight spend

$9.9 billion | Down 11% on October 2022

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Overnight trips

10.0 million | Down 2% on October 2022

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Nights spend on trips

34.4 million | Down 7% on October 2022

Key results

October 2023 saw softer domestic tourism results when compared to October 2022. Overnight spend, trips and nights were all down. 

Breakdown of results

In October 2023:

  • spend was $9.9 billion. This was down 11% on October 2022.
  • there were 10.0 million overnight trips. This was down 2% on October 2022.
  • visitors spent 34.4 million nights away. This was down 7% on October 2022.

Early data shows domestic overnight trip rates for November 2023 were weaker compared to November 2019 and 2022. Data for the first 2 weeks of December 2023 show stronger results when compared to December 2022 and are on par with 2019.

The December 2023 trip rate shows 30% of NVS respondents interviewed in weeks 1 and 2 took one or more overnight trips. The reference period for these interviews would be the preceding 28 days. The return date for some trips would be in November 2023.

The overnight trip estimate of 10.0 million for October 2023 refers to overnight trips returned from in that month.

Spend by travel purpose

Results for October 2023 show a small increase in business travel spend. However, this was offset by decreases in spend on holiday travel and travel to visit friends and relatives.

In October 2023, Australians spent:

  • $5.3 billion on holiday travel
  • $1.7 billion on travel to visit friends and relatives
  • $2.5 billion on travel for business.

Compared to October 2022, this was a:

  • 12% decrease on holiday travel
  • 27% decrease on travel to visit friends and relatives
  • 4% increase on travel for business.

Compared to a pre-COVID October 2019 this was a:

  • 36% increase on holiday travel
  • 17% increase on travel to visit friends and relatives
  • 24% increase on travel for business.

Interstate and intrastate travel

Interstate

Interstate overnight trips, nights away and spend were weaker in October 2023 compared to October 2022. 

In October 2023, Australians:

  • took 3.1 million interstate trips
  • spent $5.0 billion.

Compared to October 2022, this was a:

  • 6% decrease in overnight trips
  • 21% decrease in spend.

Intrastate

Intrastate trips were flat while nights away and spend were slightly stronger in October 2023 compared to October 2022.

In October 2023, Australians:

  • took 6.9 million intrastate trips
  • spent $4.8 billion.

Compared to October 2022, this was:

  • no change for overnight trips
  • a 2% increase in spend.

Domestic day trips

In October 2023, Australians:

  • took 17.5 million day trips
  • spent $2.8 billion.

Compared to October 2022 this was a:

  • 5% decrease in day trips
  • 1% decrease in spend.

National Visitor Survey results monthly data tables

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Monthly data for overnight and day travel by state and territory October 2023 compared to October 2022

 
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XLS 322KB

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Monthly data for overnight and day travel by state and territory October 2023 compared to October 2019

 
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XLS 176KB

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Contact TRA

mail   tourism.research@tra.gov.au

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