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Business Environment Profiles - Australia

Expenditure on recreation and culture

Published: 23 May 2024

Key Metrics

Expenditure on recreation and culture

Total (2024)

122 $ billion

Annualized Growth 2019-24

2.4 %

Definition of Expenditure on recreation and culture

This report analyses total consumption expenditure by Australian households on recreation and culture. This includes: purchases of audio-visual and photographic equipment and other major durable equipment; costs of participation in sports and physical recreation, including equipment; costs of attendance at sporting events, galleries, museums, cinemas and zoos; net losses from gambling; and purchases of newspapers and books. The data for this report is sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and is measured in billions of seasonally adjusted 2021-22 dollars.

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Recent Trends – Expenditure on recreation and culture

IBISWorld forecasts expenditure on recreation and culture to dip by 2.7% over 2023-24, to a total of $122.4 billion. This decline is expected to be driven by falling discretionary income. High inflation and rising interest rates have reduced the income available for consumers to devote to recreational and cultural goods and services. However, increased spending on sports and gambling activity over the year has somewhat mitigated this decline.

The proportion of total household consumption expenditure allocated to recreation and culture has risen strongly over the past four decades. During the 1970s, recreation and culture contributed less than 6% of total expenditure. By the late 1980s, expenditure had risen to just below 7.0%. Growth was more rapid over the 1990's and early 2000's. Expenditure on recreation and culture reached a peak at 10.1% of total expenditure in 2011-12 before dropping below 10.0% for much of the next decade.

Spending on recreation and culture activities is highly discretionary and is measured by households' ability and willingness to spend their income. Real household discretionary income has increased over the past five years, driven by an increase in personal benefits payments like JobSeeker and the falling unemployment rate. Consequently, the willingness of Australians to spend on recreation and cultural goods and services has increased over the past five years. Pandemic restrictions caused spending and culture and recreation to fall 4.2% in 2019-20. The gradual easing of these restrictions drove strong growth over the year through 2019-20. Overall, IBISWorld forecasts expenditure on recreation and culture to grow at a compound annual rate of 2.4% over the five years through 2023-24.

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5-Year Outlook – Expenditure on recreation and culture

IBISWorld forecasts expenditure on recreation and culture to reach $124.3 billion in 2024-25, whi...

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