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Australia's visitor economy in 2025
The annual benchmark report presents insights on demand and supply trends in Australia’s visitor economy.
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About this report
This benchmark report provides evidence and insights into how Australia’s visitor economy performed in 2025.
Tourism Research Australia (TRA) produces this annual report to:
- Provide details on domestic and international travel demand, and the supply-side capacity of the travel and tourism sector
- highlight challenges and opportunities for the visitor economy arising from trends observed throughout the year
- help the industry and governments understand and adapt to the changing demand and supply environment.
This report draws on a range of data sources, in-depth TRA publications and case studies. It also presents contributions from TRA’s research partners to help explain the effects for the visitor economy.
Strong demand for travel and tourism in 2025
In 2025, Australia’s visitor economy continued to show strong momentum. Total visitor spending reached $192.4 billion, up 6.5% on 2024. This was driven by solid domestic travel activity and rising international spend.
While domestic overnight trips remained relatively stable at 113 million, domestic day trips grew strongly and were a major contributor to tourism in 2025. This highlights Australians’ ongoing desire to travel, with a preference for lower-cost and shorter-length travel options at the current time. A significant number of Australians continued to travel to regional Australia, as nearly half of domestic overnight spend in 2025 occurred in regional Australia, outside Australia’s capital cities.
International arrivals increased to 8.9 million in 2025. There was strong growth in arrivals from many source markets, with particularly strong growth from the United Kingdom and China. International visitors to Australia in 2025 typically stayed for longer and spent more in 2025 than previous years. This resulted in a record $39.2 billion in international visitor spend in Australia in 2025. Travel to Australia for holiday purposes, major events, education and to visit friends or relatives all contributed to growth.
Expanded capacity in the visitor economy in 2025
On the supply side, industry capacity grew. Accommodation room numbers, flight route connectivity, tourism employment and tourism business numbers all increased in 2025. Investment in tourism infrastructure also grew, signalling confidence to invest in the sector’s long‑term growth. The report also notes ongoing challenges for the sector including issues such as rising costs of doing business, workforce shortages and global uncertainty.
A summary of the key measures of supply and capacity in the Australian visitor economy is below, showing the growth in the visitor economy in 2025. The annual benchmark report discusses these metrics in greater detail.
| Metric | Description | 2025 value | Change between 2024 and 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accommodation rooms | Total number of rooms available in accommodation establishments with 10 rooms or more (as at December 2025) | 340,662 | +0.8% |
| Accommodation occupancy | Percentage of rooms sold, or occupied, in establishments with 10 rooms or more (average for 2025) | 72.0% | +3.6ppt |
| International aviation seats | Total number of seats available on flights to Australia | 27.9 million | +7.5% |
| International aviation load factor | Percentage of seats on flights into Australia occupied by revenue passengers | 82.6% | +0.5ppt |
| Domestic aviation seats | Number of seats available to people flying in Australia | 74.5 million | +0.2% |
| Domestic aviation load factor | Percentage of seats on domestic flights occupied by revenue passengers | 82.5% | +0.9ppt |
| Tourism jobs | Number of filled jobs in the tourism industry (as of December 2025) | 736,800 | +4.7% |
| Tourism job vacancies | Number of tourism-related job vacancies advertised online (as of December 2025) | 12,000 | -23.9% |
| Tourism businesses | Number of Australian businesses in tourism-related industries (as at end June 2025) | 361,270 | +0.1% |
| Tourism investment | Total value of investment in tourism infrastructure projects valued over $20 million (as at end June 2025) | $74.5 billion | +17.5% |
Visitor economy outlook
Looking ahead, the global outlook is uncertain with major global events affecting short-term travel patterns in 2026. At the end of 2025, TRA’s forecasts pointed to a positive outlook of growth for international arrivals and visitor spend over the period to 2030.
While there are global issues impacting attitudes and behaviours regarding international and domestic travel, there are several factors that point to long-term growth. Key milestones facilitating growth include the opening of the new Western Sydney International airport, increased aviation capacity through key ports, specifically from Asia-Pacific, and investment in hotels and accommodation. Additionally, Australia’s enduring reputation as a safe, secure, reliable and sustainable destination will continue to ensure Australia remains in consideration for international travellers among an uncertain global environment.
Domestically, Australians are showing an enduring willingness to travel. Despite household financial challenges, Australians are continuing to prioritise travel, with slight changes in behaviour including shorter trips, trips closer to home, and an increase in day trips in response to economic conditions. These trips are becoming more multi-purpose, seeking combinations of connection, adventure, wellness, and quality food experiences.
In times of global uncertainty, there remains a strong propensity to travel domestically, resulting in strong contributions to regional communities throughout Australia.
Data sources
- STR (acquired by CoStar Group, Inc.)
Subscription data - International Airline Activity—Time Series | Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics
- Australian Domestic Airline Activity—time series | Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics
- Tourism Satellite Accounts: quarterly tourism labour statistics, Australia, December 2025 | Australian Bureau of Statistics
- Internet Vacancy Index | Jobs and Skills Australia
- Tourism businesses | Tourism Research Australia, as of June 2025
- Tourism Investment Monitor | Tourism Research Australia, 2024−25 Report
