International Visitor Survey shows record high for Australian tourism

Spending by both international and domestic tourists has soared to a record $107.4 billion as Australia continues to welcome record numbers of visitors for the year ending March 2018.

This new spending record is a 6% increase from the previous year and means an additional $5.8 billion has been pumped into the Australian economy.

The International Visitor Survey (IVS) shows Chinese visitors to Australia - now Australia’s largest inbound market - have helped boost spending by international tourists by 6% to a record $42.3 billion.

With almost all states and territories seeing rises in international visitor spend, the IVS shows Chinese visitors remain the biggest spenders, with their spending increasing 13%, or $1.3 billion, during the past year to a record $10.9 billion.

This new record accounted for 52% of the total growth in spending by international tourists.

The largest growth came from Indian visitors, with their spending growing 14% to $1.5 billion. Strong spending growth also came from the United States, up 4%, to $3.8 billion as Tourism Australia’s award-winning Crocodile Dundee campaign impacted the lucrative market.

Sydney remains the number one destination in Australia for international tourists with 4.1 million international visitors while Tasmania's global reputation is growing, with international visitor numbers increasing by 91% (to 300,000) and international spending up 107% over the past five years.

Commenting on the IVS, Federal Tourism Minister Steve Ciobo said tourism was the "quiet achiever" of the Australian economy, advising “we are targeting high-yielding tourists who are going to spend more in our hotels and shops and, importantly, get out into regional Australia to spend their money there too.”

The IVS showed the most visited Australian landmarks and attractions by overseas visitors:

• 3 million Sydney Opera House
• 2.7 million Sydney Harbour Bridge
• 1.4 million Blue Mountains, NSW
• 1.1 million Gold Coast
• 1 million Great Ocean Road
• 805,000 Great Barrier Reef
• 421,000 Byron Bay and the Northern Rivers, NSW
• 388,000 Yarra Valley
• 270,000 Daintree Rainforest
• 187,000 Uluru and the Olgas
• 177,000 Margaret River and Busselton
• 175,000 Parliament House, Canberra
• 151,000 Australian War Memorial, Canberra
• 107,000 Cradle Mountain
• 105,000 Barossa wine region
• 63,000 Kakadu National Park

The IVS also showed that $65.1 billion was spent by domestic overnight tourists in the year ending March 2018.

Images: The Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge are the most visited Australian landmarks and attractions by overseas visitors (top), the Blue Mountains is the most visited natural region (middle) and overseas visitor origins in the year ending March 2018 (below). 

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