Total trip expenditure of international visitors Australia FY 2010-2022

Over the past decade, the total trip expenditure of international tourists visiting Australia has increased steadily, with the exception of financial year 2020 and financial year 2021, when total trip expenditure fell from over 44 billion Australian dollars in 2019 to just about 1.3 billion in 2021. This significant change in an otherwise upward trend was largely due to global travel restrictions. However, the total trip expenditure nearly reached 9.7 billion in 2022, indicating a gradual recovery from the impact of the pandemic.

 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 financial year 2020. As one of the industries hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, this offers some hope for the recovery of the tourism industry in Australia. In the mean-time, the Australian tourism industry turned its focus to domestic travel and tourism, where the numbers are significantly higher when 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 to travel internationally 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.