International Visitor Survey monthly snapshot

International tourism October 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 October 2023 with the pre-pandemic month of October 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 in Australia was 89% of pre-COVID levels. Trips and nights to Australia were 79% and 89% of pre-COVID levels respectively. The October 2023 results show international visitors: 

• took 572,000 international trips to Australia
• had 18.4 million nights away 
• spent $2.1 billion during their trips.

Top 4 reasons for travel

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

• Holiday travel with 232,000 trips. 
  • This was 70% of pre-COVID levels. 
  • Spend was $783 million, 87% of pre-COVID levels.
• Visiting friends and relatives with 193,000 trips. 
  • This was 92% of pre-COVID levels. 
  • Spend was $341 million, 97% of pre-COVID levels.
• Business travel with 77,000 trips. 
  • This was 75% of pre-COVID levels. 
  • Spend was $252 million, 130% of pre-COVID levels.
• Employment-related travel with 25,000 trips. 
  • This was 149% of pre-COVID levels. 
  • Spend was $190 million, 139% of pre-COVID levels.

Top 5 international visitor markets 

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

• New Zealand with 112,000 trips. 
  • This was 87% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • Spend was $200 million, 123% of pre-COVID levels.  
• United States of America with 50,000 trips. 
  • This was 86% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • Spend was $168 million, 116% of pre-COVID levels. 
• United Kingdom with 48,000 trips. 
  • This was 84% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • Spend was $160 million, 111% of pre-COVID levels. 
• China with 42,000 trips. 
  • This was 42% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • Spend was $323 million, 46% of pre-COVID levels.  
• India with 25,000 trips. 
  • This was 93% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • Spend was $55 million, 81% of pre-COVID levels. 

Regional and capital city visitors and spend 

In October 2023, international visitors made 527,000 trips to Australia’s capital cities. 

• This was 79% of pre-COVID levels.  
• Spend was $1.7 billion, 87% of pre-COVID levels. 

In October 2023, international visitors made 179,000 trips to Australia’s regional areas. 

• This was 77% of pre-COVID levels.  
• Spend was $385 million, 99% of pre-COVID levels.  

Total spend 

Total spend in October 2023 was $3.4 billion. This was 93% 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.