National Visitor Survey monthly snapshot February 2023

Domestic tourism February 2023

Tourism Research Australia’s (TRA’s) monthly snapshots estimate tourism activity in the related month. TRA also produces quarterly and annual summaries.

This report compares the month of February 2023 with the pre-pandemic month of February 2020 unless stated otherwise.

Key results

February 2023 saw overnight trips, nights away and spend all exceed pre-pandemic levels.

The increase in overnight trips was driven by holiday travel (up 38%). The strong spend results in February 2023 were driven by:

• increased spending across all major expenditure items. The largest increases were on:
  • accommodation
  • food and drinks
  • shopping.

Breakdown of results

In February 2023:

• spend was up 46% ($2.2 billion) on February 2020 to $6.9 billion
• there were 7.9 million overnight trips. This was up 4% compared to February 2020
• visitors spent 25.8 million nights away. This was up 9% compared to February 2020
• there were strong spend results in all state and territories except for the Northern Territory. The highest increase was in Queensland, which was up 69% or $674 million.

The April 2023 trip rate shows 33% of NVS respondents interviewed in weeks 1-3, took one or more overnight trips. This was for the preceding 28 days (the reference period). The return date will be in March for some of these trips.

The trip estimate of 7.9 million for February refers to overnight trips returned from in that month.

Regional and capital city visitors and spend

Capital cities

Visitors continued to return to Australia’s capital cities in February 2023. This was the strongest February result for the number of visitors and spend since the start of the pandemic.

In February 2023, Australians:

• spent $3.2 billion
• took 3.1 million trips to capital cities.

Compared to a pre-COVID February 2020, this was a:

• 35% increase in spend
• 4% decrease in overnight trips.

Regions

Visitors continued to enjoy Australia’s regional areas in February 2023. Overnight trips and spend were both up on pre-pandemic levels.

In February 2023, Australians:

• spent $3.7 billion
• took 5.1 million trips to regional areas.

Compared to a pre-COVID February 2020, this was a:

• 57% increase in spend
• 10% increase in overnight trips.

Domestic day trips

Australians took 16.4 million day trips and spent $2.5 billion in February 2023.

Compared to a pre-COVID February 2020 this was a:

• 16% increase in spend
• 16% decrease in day trips.

National Visitor Survey results monthly data tables