Tourism businesses in Australia

Summary and key findings

Tourism Research Australia (TRA) annually publish an analysis of tourism-related businesses in Australia, drawing on data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). 

Tourism-related businesses fall into 2 main groups:

• tourism characteristic industries, such as accommodation, where visitors consume at least 25% of output and therefore businesses in these industries are considered to be reliant on tourism
• tourism connected industries, like automotive fuel retailing, where products are consumed by visitors in volumes considered to be significant, but still comprise less than 25% of consumed output.

The number of tourism-related businesses in Australia was 361,270 in June 2025. This is an increase of 237 or 0.1% on the number operating nationwide in June 2024 and an increase of 27,000 or 8.0% compared to June 2020.

Of the 361,270 tourism-related businesses as of June 2025:

• 205,101 businesses (57% of total) were in tourism characteristic industries
• 156,169 businesses (43%) were in tourism connected industries.

Tourism-related businesses comprised a significant 13.2% of all Australian businesses in June 2025, accounting for nearly 1 in 8 businesses in Australia.

The tourism-related industry with the highest growth rate (in terms of business numbers) over the past five years (between 2020 and 2025) was motor-vehicle hiring (up 65%). The industry with the largest contraction was Taxi transport (-24%).

Approximately 95% of tourism-related businesses in Australia are small businesses, with fewer than 20 employees. Nearly half (48%) of all tourism-related businesses have a turnover under $200,000.

Seventy per cent (254,000) of tourism-related businesses are in Australia’s capital cities or the Gold Coast.

The survival rate after 4 years of tourism-related businesses was 56%: of the 345,000 tourism related businesses in June 2021, 194,000 (56%) were still in business in June 2025.  This is lower than the survival rate for all Australian businesses over this period (63%).

Of the tourism-related industries, Clubs, pubs, taverns and bars had the highest 4-year business survival rate between 2021 and 2025 (70%). The tourism-related industry with the lowest 4-year business survival rate over this period was Taxi transport (44%). 

Tourism businesses in Australia at a glance (June 2025)

1. Regional Australia includes all areas outside of state and territory capital cities and the Gold Coast tourism region.
2. Businesses with fewer than 20 employees  (including non-employing businesses).
3. Comparison is with 2020 rather than 2019 as this data series started at 2020.

Growth in tourism-related business numbers (2020 to 2025)

Figure 1: Number of tourism-related businesses (June 2020 to June 2025)

Tourism-related businesses grew by 8% between 2020 and 2025, with most of this growth occurring between 2020 and 2022. Business numbers have remained quite stable at around 361,000 from 2022 to 2025. 

Tourism characteristic vs tourism connected businesses

Tourism characteristic industries experienced far lower growth in the number of businesses between 2020 and 2025 than tourism connected industries (5% vs 12%).

Comparison with all industries

For context, the total number of Australian businesses grew by 18% over the same period (2020 to 2025), showing that tourism-related businesses are growing at a slower rate than the overall Australian business landscape, over a five-year period. (Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits). 

Industries

Accounting for 2 in 3 tourism-related businesses, 2 industries – retail trade and cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services – play a significant role in the tourism industry and are important drivers of economic activity. In June 2025:

• retail trade (a tourism-connected industry) was the largest tourism-related industry, with 152,000 businesses (42% of total).  
• cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (a tourism-characteristic industry) was the largest tourism-characteristic industry, with 89,000 businesses (25% of total tourism-related businesses). 

Figure 2: Number of tourism-related businesses by industry (June 2025)

Changes in tourism businesses by industry (2020 to 2025)

Over this 5-year period:

• the largest relative increase in business numbers was seen in motor-vehicle hiring (up 64% or 1,500 businesses)
• the largest relative decline was in taxi transport (down 24% or 10,300 businesses).  

The largest growth in absolute terms was in:

• other retail trade (up 16,000 businesses or 12%)
• cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (up 11,600 businesses or 15%).

Figure 3: Change in the number of tourism-related businesses (June 2020 to June 2025)

Tourism-related businesses by size

In June 2025, around 4 in 5 (78%) tourism-related businesses were non-employing (i.e. sole operator) or micro businesses (with 1–4 employees). While only 5% of tourism-related businesses were medium or large businesses (20 or more employees), this is a higher proportion than that of all Australian industries (3%).

This breakdown of businesses by size has remained relatively stable since 2019-20.

Figure 4: Number of tourism-related businesses by size (June 2025)

Tourism-related businesses by turnover

Almost half (48%) of tourism-related businesses had a turnover under $200,000, while 5% of tourism-related businesses had a turnover of more than $5 million. By contrast, 56% of all Australian businesses had a turnover under $200,000, while 4% had a turnover over $5 million.

The most common turnover range for tourism-related businesses was between $200,000 to $2 million, for 40%, or 2 in 5, tourism-related businesses. 

Figure 5: Number of tourism-related businesses by turnover (June 2025)

Location of tourism-related businesses

Seven in 10 (70% or 254,000) of tourism-related businesses are in Australia’s capital cities or the Gold Coast. Three in 10 (30% or 107,000) are in regional Australia. The proportion of tourism-related businesses in regional areas remained relatively stable at around 30% between 2020 and 2025. However, the rate of growth of capital-city based tourism-related businesses was higher than that of regional businesses over the 5 years between 2020 and 2025 (9% and 6% respectively).

The 3 most populous states are home to 82% of all tourism-related businesses in Australia:

• New South Wales – 119,000 tourism-related businesses (33% of the national total)
•  Victoria – 110,000 (30% of total)
• Queensland – 66,000 (18% of total). 

Figure 6: Number of tourism-related businesses by state and territory (June 2025)

Note: State total and % of Australian total shown at top of columns.

Figure 7: Top 10 tourism regions by number of tourism-related businesses (June 2025)

Survival rate of tourism related businesses (2021-2025)

Of the 344,000 tourism-related businesses operating in June 2021, 193,000 (56%) were still operating 4 years later in June 2025. This rate is slightly lower than that reported for the 2020 to 2024 period (58%).

This 4-year business survival rate for tourism-related businesses was significantly lower than that of all Australian businesses over the same period (63%). 

A slight decline in the 4-year business survival rate was also seen in all Australian businesses. The 4-year business survival rate for all Australian businesses decreased from 64% (for the 2020-2024 period) to 63% (for the 2021-2025 period). (Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits).

Survival rate of tourism-related businesses by business size

The survival rate of tourism-related businesses over this period was directly proportional to business size, with larger businesses having a much greater survival rate than smaller businesses. For example, some 4-year survival rates by business size were:

• 88% of large businesses (200+ employees)
• 60% of micro businesses (those with between 1 and 4 employees) and
• 47% of non-employing businesses.

Figure 8: 4-year survival rate of tourism-related businesses (June 2021 to June 2025)

Survival rate of tourism related businesses by industry

The industries with the highest survival rates over this 4-year period were:

• clubs, pubs, taverns and bars (74%)
• passenger transport (65%)
• accommodation (64%).

The industries with the lowest survival rates were:

• casinos and gambling services (57%)
• cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (51%)
• taxi transport (44%).  

Figure 9: Business survival rate by industry (2021 to 2025)

Factors affecting tourism business numbers

Significant decline in taxi transport industry businesses

The total number of tourism-related businesses and shifts over time are influenced significantly by changes in the taxi transport industry.

Accounting for 13% of all tourism-related businesses in 2020, the number of businesses in this industry decreased by 10,300 (24%) between 2020 and 2025, materially influencing the total number of tourism-related business.  

External sources attribute this decline to competition from the rideshare industry rather than a reduction in demand for taxi/rideshare services (Roy Morgan 2025).

If the taxi-transport industry is separated from the analysis of total tourism-related businesses, the number of businesses from the remaining tourism-related industries increased by 13% between June 2020 and June 2025 – rather than the 8% increase reported with the taxi-transport industry included in the figures.

Figure 10: Number of businesses by industry – taxi transport industry vs other tourism-related industries (June 2020 vs June 2025)

Note: figures in brackets show % change between 2020 and 2025.

Domestic tourism competing with outbound international travel

The strong growth in tourism-related business numbers between 2020 and 2022 was likely enhanced by strong domestic tourism demand due to the closure of Australia’s international borders during that period. Once Australia’s international borders were reopened, outbound international travel recovered quickly, with the growth of international outbound travel aligning with a stabilisation of domestic overnight trips (see fig. 11). This stabilisation of domestic overnight trips has coincided with the stabilisation of tourism-related business numbers between 2022 and 2025.

This trend is most apparent for Tasmanian tourism-related businesses (which rely more on interstate travel than other states (note: 71% of domestic overnight spend in Tasmania was from interstate visitors in 2024-25 compared with just 44% for other states; source: TRA)). The number of tourism-related businesses in Tasmania decreased by 3.2% between 2022 and 2025 while the national figure grew by 0.2% over the same period.

Figure 11: Domestic overnight trips vs outbound international trips by Australians (rolling annual total)

Note: Figures show yearly totals to the date indicated

Methodology and definitions

The data and summary information is derived from the ABS Business Register database, based on selected businesses from tourism-related industries as defined in the ABS Tourism Satellite Account. The Australian Bureau of Statistics Business Register (ABSBR) is populated using administrative data from Australian Business Number (ABN) registrations recorded in the Australian Business Register (ABR), and business data from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).  

See: ABS Tourism Satellite Account Methodology for more information.

Data tables 2025

More about tourism businesses in our data tables.