Business Environment Profiles - Australia
Published: 30 May 2025
International tourist visitor nights
296 Million
6.5 %
This report analyses the total number of visitor nights spent in Australia by international travellers. Tourists visiting Australia enter the country for a variety of reasons, including business, holidaying, education (if less than one year in duration), visiting friends and relatives and other reasons like for medical operations. The data for this report is sourced from Tourism Research Australia (TRA) and is measured in millions of nights per financial year.
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IBISWorld expects the number of international tourist visitor nights to increase by 0.2% in 2024-25, to 295.6 million nights. International travel to Australia has surged since border restrictions were lifted in February 2022, with arrivals in 2024 already surpassing the 2019 pre-pandemic peak. This significant jump reflects strong and renewed interest in visiting Australia. As a result, while growth is expected to continue, the year-on-year increase in 2024-25 will appear more modest following the sharp recovery. This expansion is fuelled by several interlinked factors. Demand is bolstered by a surge in "bleisure" travel as more business and educational visitors extend stays to incorporate leisure experiences, cementing longer average trip durations. Additionally, the swift recovery of the Chinese market, alongside increased direct airline capacity and targeted event programming, has diversified both the volume and value of inbound tourism.
International travel was signifigantly disrupted by the the COVID-19 pandemic. Tourism to Australia was essentially been halted due to the ban on inbound travellers imposed by the Federal Government, which came into effect in March 2020. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, short-term arrivals to Australia reached a monthly low of 2,250 in April 2020, down from 700,370 one year prior. Monthly totals remained low during 2020-21. However, international tourist visitor nights rose in the June 2021 quarter upon the establishment of a travel bubble with New Zealand. In addition, most arrivals to Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic have been for medium-term stays, such as for employment purposes.
International tourist visitor nights were trending upwards before the COVID-19 pandemic. Rising visitor nights were driven by emerging markets in South-East Asia and some established markets, like China and Japan. However, tourist visitor nights from several major markets, including the US, the UK and New Zealand, decreased over the two years through 2018-19. Visitor nights from these markets declined despite rising traveller volumes. Less costly international flights have allowed consumers to take more frequent holidays, while limits on leave entitlements have resulted in shorter trips. Strong demand from education, business and leisure visitors is revitalising Australian tourism. Chinese travellers remain the dominant market, generating nearly twice as many visitor nights as any other country in 2024. India follows as a rapidly growing source, reflecting the rising impact of Asia's emerging outbound markets on Australia's tourism growth. Overall, IBISWorld forecasts the number of international visitor nights to fall at a compound annual rate of 6.5% over the five years through 2024-25.
IBISWorld expects the number of international tourist visitor nights to increase by 4.7% in 2025-...
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