International Visitor Survey monthly snapshot

International Tourism July 2023

The International Visitor Survey (IVS) monthly snapshots estimate tourism activity in the related month. We also produce quarterly and annual international tourism results.

Notes on the data

• This report compares the month of July 2023 with the pre-pandemic month of July 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 such as 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 tourism to Australia continued to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. International visitor spend was 98% of the pre-COVID level. Trips and nights to Australia reached 80% and 87% respectively. The July 2023 results show international visitors: 

• made 556,000 trips to Australia
• had 24.2 million nights in Australia
• spent $3.5 billion during their trips.

Top 4 reasons for travel

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

Holiday travel with 213,000 trips. 

• This was 73% of pre-COVID levels. 
• Spend was $698 million, 90% of pre-COVID levels.

Visiting friends and relatives with 162,000 trips. 

• This was 88% of pre-COVID levels. 
• Spend was $316 million, 122% of pre-COVID levels.

Education-related travel with 74,000 trips. 

• This was 73% of pre-COVID levels. 
• Spend was $2.2 billion, 99% of pre-COVID levels.

Business travel with 68,000 trips. 

• This was 77% of pre-COVID levels. 
• Spend was $179 million, 98% of pre-COVID levels.

Spend by international students accounted for 61% of the total monthly international visitor spend. This was driven by the usual increase in international students entering Australia in the month of July.

Top 5 international visitor markets 

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

• New Zealand with 103,000 trips. 
  • This was 86% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • Spend was $184 million, 120% of pre-COVID levels.  
• China with 70,000 trips. 
  • This was 54% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • Spend was $1.5 billion, 86% of pre-COVID levels.  
• United States of America with 50,000 trips. 
  • This was 92% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • Spend was $139 million, 97% of pre-COVID levels. 
• United Kingdom with 29,000 trips. 
  • This was 84% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • Spend was $103 million, 101% of pre-COVID levels. 
• Japan with 26,000 trips. 
  • This was 71% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • Spend was $143 million, 42% of pre-COVID levels.  

Regional and capital city visitors and spend 

In July 2023, international visitors made 515,000 trips to Australia’s capital cities. 

• This was 79% of pre-COVID levels.  
• Spend was $3.2 billion, 99% of pre-COVID levels. 

In July 2023, international visitors made 149,000 trips to Australia’s regional areas. 

• This was 70% of pre-COVID levels.  
• Spend was $336 million, 89% of pre-COVID levels.  

Total spend 

Total spend in July 2023 was $4.7 billion. This was 102% 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 such as luggage, visas, duty-free retail and ground transport. 

Data tables

Read more

• Explore data from our international and national visitor surveys using TRA Online. Find out more on our Services page.
• Read the International Visitor Survey methodology.
• Find previous reports on our Data and research page.