Total trip expenditure of international visitors Australia FY 2010-2020

Over the past decade, the total trip expenditure of international tourists visiting Australia has increased steadily, with the exception of financial year 2020, when total trip expenditure fell from over 44 billion Australian dollars to 33.3 billion in 2020. This significant change in an otherwise upward trend is largely due to travel restrictions resulting from the coronavirus outbreak from early 2020. 

 Tourists still willing to spend 

Despite the overall drop in trip expenditure from international visitors, trip expenditure per traveler has remained healthy and even showed an increase on the previous year in 2020. As one of the industries hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, this offers some post-pandemic hope for the recovery of the tourism industry in Australia. In the mean-time, the Australian tourism industry turned its focus on domestic travel and tourism, which appeared to be more capable of bouncing back from lockdown and travel restrictions compared to international travel.  

 Holidaying close to home 

    With international leisure travel plans canceled for much of 2020 due to the pandemic, more Australians looked closer to home for a holiday. One survey showed that nearly half of all respondents who would usually plan international travel between November to February had decided against traveling overseas over the summer period in 2020 and 2021. However, an increased share of respondents indicated that they would holiday within their own state or territory.