National Tourism Satellite Account

Summary of the 2023-24 financial year

The National Tourism Satellite Account (NTSA) is an Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) annual data product. It examines Australia’s tourism performance through an economic lens. NTSA data is useful for understanding:

• the value of goods and services consumed by visitors
• the tourism contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), international trade and employment.

This summary of the NTSA by Tourism Research Australia (TRA) looks at the 2023-24 financial year. This is in comparison to performance in earlier financial years.

Tourism shows steady improvement

The tourism industry continued to experience growth supported by increased domestic travel and the continued recovery of international visitor numbers following the COVID-19 pandemic travel domestically and internationally. In 2023–24 international visitor arrivals to Australia increased strongly (up 36%) while domestic overnight trips increased by 4%.

Tourism Research Australia (TRA) expects to see further growth in international travel and spend over future years, according to its tourism forecasts for Australia. Domestic tourism spend is also expected to continue to rise over the medium to long term.

Key results

Total tourism consumption was $198.5 billion in 2023–24. This was up 8.2% or $15.1 billion on 2022–23, and up 25% or $40.1 billion on 2018–19 (the last full financial year pre–pandemic). This resulted in:

• a 9.1% increase in tourism GDP in current prices, which rose from a revised $71.6 billion in the 2022–23 ABS National Tourism Satellite Account release to $78.1 billion in the 2023–24 release. When compared with 2018–19 (pre–pandemic), tourism GDP in current prices was 29% or $17.7 billion higher. 
• tourism GDP as a share of the national economy increasing from 2.8% in 2022–23, to 2.9% in 2023–24.
• tourism filled jobs increasing by 5.7% from 654,500 in 2022–23 to 691,500 in 2023–24. This was 9.4% or 59,500 more jobs than in 2018–19.
• tourism’s share of total filled jobs increasing from 4.3% in 2022–23, to 4.4% in 2023–24 (1 in 23 jobs). In 2018–19, tourism accounted for 4.6%, or 1 in 20 jobs in the Australian workforce.
• tourism exports from international visitors spending money on Australian goods and services rising by $12.4 billion to $38.3 billion in 2023–24. This is $0.6 billion or 1.7% higher than the $37.7 billion of tourism exports in 2018–19.
• tourism imports from the money Australian residents spend when travelling overseas growing by $22.7 billion to $78.4 billion in 2023–24. This compares with $58.1 billion in tourism imports in 2018–19. 

Tourism consumption results

Tourism consumption was $198.5 billion in 2023–24. This was 8.2% (or $15.1 billion) up on the previous year. It was also 25% ($40.1 billion) higher than the pre–pandemic level in 2018–19.

The growth in total tourism consumption in current prices over 2022–23 levels was largely (82%) driven by consumption by international visitors.

By category of goods and services consumed, all categories grew strongly in 2023–24 (Figure 1). The largest category growth was in education services, which increased by 58% on last year.  Compared with 2022–23, tourism consumption by category in 2023–24 was:

• 12% (or $1.3 billion) higher for travel agency and tour operator services
• 8.5% (or $5.5 billion) higher for accommodation and food services
• 7.8% (or $1.7 billion) higher for food and drinks
• 6% (or $0.5 billion) higher for recreational, cultural and gambling
• 5.5% (or $2.9 billion) higher for transport
• 3.8% (or $0.7 billion) higher for shopping, gifts and souvenirs

helpHover over lines and columns to show consumptio data

Source: ABS, Australian National Accounts: Tourism Satellite Account, 2023–24, December 2024

GDP from tourism

GDP from tourism was $78.1 billion in 2023–24. This was an increase of 9.1% ($6.5 billion) when compared with 2022–23. In current prices, GDP from tourism was 29% higher in 2023–24 than in 2018–19 (pre–pandemic). Tourism’s share of all economic activity in Australia increased by 0.1 percentage points from 2.8% in 2022–23 to 2.9% in 2023–24. This is 0.2 percentage points below the pre-pandemic share of 3.1% (Figure 2).

helpHover over lines and columns to show GDP data

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian National Accounts: Tourism Satellite Account, 2023–24, December 2024

Tourism exports and imports

Australia’s international border reopened in early 2022, with strong growth in international travel in and out of Australia since. As a result, tourism exports and imports increased strongly in 2023–24, surpassing their levels in the pre–pandemic year (2018–19) (Figure 3).

Exports

Tourism exports are the value of spending on Australian goods and services by international visitors.

The value of tourism exports was $38.3 billion in 2023–24. This was up by 48% or $12.4 billion compared with 2022–23 and 1.7% or $0.6 billion higher than the $37.7 billion of exports in 2018–19.

Imports

Tourism imports are the value of spending by Australian residents during overseas travel.

The value of tourism imports was $78.4 billion in 2023–24. This was 41% higher than the $55.6 billion of imports for 2022–23 and 35% higher than the $58.1 billion of tourism imports for 2018–19. 

helpHover over lines to show tourism trade data

Source: ABS, Australian National Accounts: Tourism Satellite Account, 2023–24, December 2024

Tourism filled jobs

There were 691,500 filled jobs in tourism in 2023–24. This was 5.7% higher than the 654,500 in 2022–23 (Figure 4). The number of filled jobs were 9.4% or 59,500 higher than in the pre–pandemic year of 2018–19. 

helpHover over lines and columns to show employment data

Source: ABS, Australian National Accounts: Tourism Satellite Account, 2023–24, December 2024

The relative growth in tourism filled jobs has been stronger than growth in all Australian jobs and as a result, tourism’s share of total filled jobs has increased from 3.0% in 2021–22 to 4.3% in 2022–23 and 4.4% in 2023–24. In 2018–19, before the COVID–19 pandemic, there were 632,000 filled tourism jobs, representing 4.6% of total filled jobs in Australia.

Changes in this issue

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has undertaken a comprehensive review of the methods and data sources used to compile the TSA for the 2023–24 release. This resulted in changes to all economic variables in the TSA, including tourism consumption. In addition, the method for calculating direct net taxes on goods has been revised to reflect that tourists pay the full amount of upstream tax (GST and sales tax). Tourism GVA, net taxes and GDP have been revised back to 2004–05.

However, the time series at the industry and product level, as well as tourism employment, has only been updated back to 2016–17. The table names, numbering and applicable time series in the data cubes available for downloading have also been revised. For further details on these changes please refer Revisions in the NTSA .

For specific query related to ABS’ methodological review and changes to the data sources, please contact via email: physical.environment.accounts.and.statistics.branch.wdb@abs.gov.au.