Domestic tourism April 2021
Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to have an impact on Australia’s domestic tourism market. However, the improvement of domestic travel in recent months continued in April. This was largely due to increased participation in Easter and school holiday travel occurring over this period.
Results include:
- April 2021 saw Australians take more overnight trips and spend more than in any month since the start of the pandemic.
- Intrastate travel continued to contribute strongly to the recovery of domestic overnight tourism. Australians:
- took 7.2 million intrastate overnight trips (up 16% on March 2021)
- spent $4.1 billion (up 27% on March).
- April saw the strongest interstate travel results since the start of the pandemic, with state borders largely open. Australians:
- took 2.9 million interstate trips (up 33% on March)
- spent $4.0 billion (45% more than the $2.8 billion in March).
Overnight trips and spend
Australians took 10.1 million overnight trips in April 2021. They stayed 38.1 million nights and spent $8.2 billion.
Compared to pre-COVID April 2019, this was a:
- 9% fall in overnight trips
- 6% fall in nights stayed
- 7% increase in spend.
Domestic day trips
Australians took 17.4 million day trips and spent $1.9 billion in April 2021.
Compared to pre-COVID April 2019, this was a:
- 17% fall in day trips
- 14% fall in spend.
Hover on line over relevant month to show total figures.
The trip rate for June 2021 tells us 23.5% of NVS respondents interviewed in weeks 1, 2 and 3 reported taking one or more overnight trips in the preceding 28 days (the reference period).
The return date will have been in May for some of these trips. The trip estimate of 10.1 million for the month of April refers to overnight trips returned from in that month.
Regional and capital city visitors and spend
Regional areas continue to fare better than capital cities.
Australians took 3.4 million overnight trips to capital cities and spent $3.2 billion in April 2021.
Compared to pre-COVID April 2019, this was a:
- 20% fall in overnight trips
- 11% fall in spend.
In contrast, Australians took 7.2 million overnight trips to regional Australia and spent $5.0 billion in April 2021.
Compared to pre-COVID April 2019, this was a:
- 2% fall in overnight trips
- 22% increase in spend.
The increased spend for regional areas (compared to April 2019) was spread across most states. The self-drive holiday market was the leading reason for increased spend. These increases were strongest in:
- regional South Australia – spend up 38%
- regional New South Wales – spend up 32%
- regional Victoria – spend up 31%.
National Visitor Survey results monthly data tables
NVS results monthly data tables
Monthly data for overnight and day travel by state and territory
https://www.tra.gov.au/ArticleDocuments/185/NationalVisitorSurvey(NVS)MonthlyDomesticOvernightVisitationApril2021.xlsx.aspx
Monthly data for overnight and day travel by state and territory as compared to April 2019
https://www.tra.gov.au/ArticleDocuments/185/NationalVisitorSurvey(NVS)MonthlyDomesticOvernightVisitationApril2021_2019comparison.xlsx.aspx
Contact us
Email tourism.research@tra.gov.au