International Visitor Survey monthly snapshot

International tourism November 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.

Notes on the data

• This report compares the month of November 2023 with the pre-pandemic month of November 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 by 4% and 13% respectively. Trips to Australia were 81% of pre-COVID levels. The November 2023 results show international visitors: 

• spent $2.4 billion during their trips
  
• took 627,000 international trips to Australia
• had 22.9 million nights away.

Top 4 reasons for travel

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

• Holiday travel with 259,000 trips. 
  • This was 71% of pre-COVID levels. 
  • Spend was $891 million, 95% of pre-COVID levels.
• Visiting friends and relatives with 221,000 trips. 
  • This was 97% of pre-COVID levels. 
  • Spend was $390 million, 109% of pre-COVID levels.
• Business travel with 73,000 trips. 
  • This was 66% of pre-COVID levels. 
  • Spend was $207 million, 101% of pre-COVID levels.
• Employment-related travel with 27,000 trips. 
  • This was 165% of pre-COVID levels. 
  • Spend was $269 million, 199% of pre-COVID levels.

Top 5 international visitor markets 

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

• New Zealand with 107,000 trips. 
  • This was 96% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • Spend was $208 million, 143% of pre-COVID levels.  
• United States of America with 58,000 trips. 
  • This was 81% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • Spend was $185 million, 104% of pre-COVID levels. 
• United Kingdom with 56,000 trips. 
  • This was 84% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • Spend was $244 million, 173% of pre-COVID levels. 
• China with 45,000 trips. 
  • This was 45% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • Spend was $297 million, 57% of pre-COVID levels.  
• India with 36,000 trips. 
  • This was 101% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • Spend was $103 million, 100% of pre-COVID levels. 

Regional and capital city visitors and spend 

In November 2023, international visitors made 584,000 trips to Australia’s capital cities. 

• This was 81% of pre-COVID levels.  
• Spend was $2.0 billion, 103% of pre-COVID levels. 

In November 2023, international visitors made 181,000 trips to Australia’s regional areas. 

• This was 67% of pre-COVID levels.  
• Spend was $429 million, 108% of pre-COVID levels.  

Total spend 

Total spend in November 2023 was $3.9 billion. This was 106% 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

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.