From the January 2024 reference month, TRA will return to publishing International Visitor Survey data on a quarterly basis only, with the data for December 2023 being the final monthly release. 

Increased appreciation of the value of tourism data is generating significant additional demand for TRA services. At the same time, there are ongoing challenges with maintaining high quality high frequency data based primarily on survey collections. Ensuring statistical reporting remains robust and fit for purpose into the future is a priority and requires investment in the assessment and development of potential new data sources for use in tourism statistics. Statistical outputs are therefore being reprioritised to balance the timeliness of publications and the quality of releases.  

International tourism December 2023

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


Spend in Australia

$2.5 billion | 95% of pre-COVID levels


Number of trips

783,000 | 81% of pre-COVID levels


Nights spent in Australia

26.4 million | 98% of pre-COVID levels

Notes on the data

  • This report compares the month of December 2023 with the pre-pandemic month of December 2019.
  • Spend in Australia is different to total spend. Total spend includes purchases made overseas such as: 
    • international connections and stopovers (including airfares)
    • other pre-travel or post-travel spend in the source market or elsewhere outside Australia. For example, luggage, visas, duty-free retail and ground transport.
  • Unless stated otherwise, spend is reported as spend in Australia. This standard is developed using the United Nations Statistics Commission's International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics 2008. This defines inbound expenditure as only expenditure in the economy of reference.

Key results

International visitor spend and nights spent in Australia exceeded pre-COVID levels at 95% and 98% respectively. Trips to Australia were 81% of pre-COVID levels. The December 2023 results show international visitors: 

  • spent $2.5 billion during their trips
  • took 783,000 international trips to Australia
  • had 26.4 million nights away.

Top 4 reasons for travel

The top 4 main reasons for travel to Australia in the month of December 2023:

  • Visiting friends and relatives with 350,000 trips. 
    • This was 89% of pre-COVID levels. 
    • Spend was $580 million, 100% of pre-COVID levels.
  • Holiday travel with 322,000 trips. 
    • This was 71% of pre-COVID levels. 
    • Spend was $1.0 billion, 96% of pre-COVID levels.
  • Business travel with 48,000 trips. 
    • This was 79% of pre-COVID levels. 
    • Spend was $163 million, 103% of pre-COVID levels.
  • Education-related travel with 23,000 trips. 
    • This was 83% of pre-COVID levels. 
    • Spend was $601 million, 88% of pre-COVID levels.

Top 5 international visitor markets 

Australia’s top 5 international markets in the month of December 2023: 

  • New Zealand with 108,000 trips. 
    • This was 86% of pre-COVID levels.  
    • Spend was $174 million, 121% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • United Kingdom with 88,000 trips. 
    • This was 83% of pre-COVID levels.  
    • Spend was $209 million, 79% of pre-COVID levels. 
  • United States of America with 77,000 trips. 
    • This was 85% of pre-COVID levels.  
    • Spend was $216 million, 97% of pre-COVID levels. 
  • China with 63,000 trips. 
    • This was 59% of pre-COVID levels.  
    • Spend was $410 million, 73% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • India with 41,000 trips. 
    • This was 101% of pre-COVID levels.  
    • Spend was $140 million, 122% of pre-COVID levels. 

Regional and capital city visitors and spend 

In December 2023, international visitors made 729,000 trips to Australia’s capital cities. 

  • This was 82% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • Spend was $2.1 billion, 94% of pre-COVID levels. 

In December 2023, international visitors made 230,000 trips to Australia’s regional areas. 

  • This was 68% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • Spend was $425 million, 97% of pre-COVID levels.  

Total spend 

Total spend in December 2023 was $4.4 billion. This was 103% of pre-COVID levels.  

Total spend includes purchases made overseas such as:  

  • international connections and stopovers (including airfares)  
  • other pre-travel or post-travel spend in the source market or elsewhere outside Australia. For example, luggage, visas, duty-free retail and ground transport. 

Data tables

chart_data

International Visitor Survey results for December 2023 compared to December 2019

 
download

XLS 162KB

Read more

Contact TRA

mail   tourism.research@tra.gov.au

Footer content