Year ending December 2023
The International Visitor Survey (IVS) results provide statistics on how international visitors travel within Australia. You can find national, state and territory results for the:
- number of trips taken
- nights spent on a trip
- amount spent in Australia
- total amount spent on a trip.
You can also:
- read about the factors influencing international travel to Australia
- see the changes compared over different time frames impacted by COVID-19
- read about the return of international visitors to Australia.
Annual snapshot
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Spend in Australia
$28.0 billion | 89% of December 2019 levels
person
Number of trips
6.6 million | 76% of December 2019 levels
clear_night
Nights spent in Australia
242.3 million | 88% of December 2019 levels
equal
Total spend
$43.1 billion | 95% of December 2019 levels (includes spend outside Australia)
Quarterly snapshot
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Spend in Australia
$7.1 billion 96% of December 2019 levels
person
Number of trips
2.0 million 81% of December 2019 levels
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Nights spent in Australia
67.7 million on par with December 2019 levels
equal
Total spend
$11.7 billion 1% up on December 2019 levels (includes spend outside Australia)
Notes on the data
- Unless we say otherwise, we compared the summary results for:
- the December 2023 quarter to the December quarter 2019.
- the year ending December 2023 to the year ending December 2019.
- Spend is reported as spend in Australia. 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 on expenses such as luggage, visas, duty-free retail and ground transport.
International trips and spend key results
International tourism in Australia continues to recover following the COVID-19 pandemic. In the year ending December 2023, there were 6.6 million trips to Australia.
The top reasons for travel to Australia in the year ending December 2023 were:
- Holiday travel with 2.6 million trips.
- 65% of December 2019 levels.
- Spend in Australia was $8.3 billion, 80% of December 2019 levels.
- Visiting friends and relatives with 2.4 million trips.
- 93% of December 2019 levels.
- Spend in Australia was $4.6 billion, 11% up December 2019 levels.
- Business travel with 716,000 trips.
- 71% of December 2019 levels.
- Spend in Australia was $2.1 billion, 98% of December 2019 levels.
- Education with 418,000 trips.
- This was 70% of December 2019 levels.
- Spend in Australia was $10.4 billion, 84% of December 2019 levels.
The proportion of trips to Australia for holiday purposes continued to increase from 37% in the year ending September 2023 to 39% in the year ending December 2023. This is the highest proportion since falling to 3% in the year ending March 2021 as a result of international border closures.
Top 5 international visitor markets
Australia’s top 5 international markets for the year ending December 2023 were:
- New Zealand with 1.1 million trips.
- 88% of December 2019 levels.
- Spend in Australia was $2.0 billion, 23% up on December 2019 levels.
- United States of America with 617,000 trips.
- 80% of December 2019 levels.
- Spend in Australia was $2.0 billion, 2% up on December 2019 levels.
- United Kingdom with 561,000 trips.
- 84% of December 2019 levels.
- Spend in Australia was $1.9 billion, 7% up on December 2019 levels.
- China with 507,000 trips.
- 38% of December 2019 levels.
- Spend in Australia was $5.8 billion, 56% of December 2019 levels.
- India with 375,000 trips.
- 99% of December 2019 levels.
- Spend in Australia was $1.4 billion, 13% up on December 2019 levels.
Total spend
Total spend in the year ending December 2023 was $43.1 billion. This was 95% of December 2019 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 on things like luggage, visas, duty-free retail and ground transport.
Data tables
More information
- Explore data from our international and national visitor surveys using TRA Online.
- Read the International Visitor Survey Methodology.
- Find older data tables and other publications on the Data and research page.