International Visitor Survey monthly snapshot

International Tourism August 2023

Tourism Research Australia's (TRA's) monthly snapshots estimate tourism activity in the related month. We also produce quarterly and annual international tourism results.

Notes on the data

• This report compares the month of August 2023 with the pre-pandemic month of August 2019. 
• Spend in Australia is different to total spend. Total spend includes purchases made overseas such as: 
  • international connections and stopovers (including airfares)
  • other pre-travel or post-travel spend in the source market or elsewhere outside Australia such as luggage, visas, duty-free retail and ground transport.
• Spend is reported as spend in Australia, unless stated otherwise. This standard is developed using the United Nations Statistics Commission's International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics 2008. This defines inbound expenditure as only expenditure in the economy of reference.

Key results

International visitors spend in Australia was 85% of the pre-COVID level. Trips and nights to Australia were 78% and 87% respectively. The August 2023 results show: 

• there were 551,000 international trips to Australia
• visitors stayed 19.0 million nights 
• spent $2.1 billion during their trips.

Top 4 reasons for travel

The top 4 main reasons for travel to Australia in the month of August 2023 were:

Holiday travel with 235,000 trips. 

• This was 68% of pre-COVID levels. 
• Spend was $648 million, 69% of pre-COVID levels.

Visiting friends and relatives with 184,000 trips. 

• This was 94% of pre-COVID levels. 
• Spend was $364 million, 128% of pre-COVID levels.

Business travel with 59,000 trips. 

• This was 67% of pre-COVID levels. 
• Spend was $191 million, 96% of pre-COVID levels.

Education-related travel with 33,000 trips. 

• This was 73% of pre-COVID levels. 
• Spend was $623 million, 80% of pre-COVID levels.

Spend by international students accounted for 30% of the total monthly international visitor spend.

Top 5 international visitor markets 

Australia’s top 5 international markets in the month of August 2023 were: 

• New Zealand with 98,000 trips. 
  • This was 84% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • Spend was $159 million, 95% of pre-COVID levels.  
• China with 52,000 trips. 
  • This was 48% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • Spend was $440 million, 58% of pre-COVID levels.  
• United States of America with 44,000 trips. 
  • This was 92% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • Spend was $126 million, 120% of pre-COVID levels. 
• Japan with 37,000 trips. 
  • This was 69% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • Spend was $110 million, 91% of pre-COVID levels. 
• India with 29,000 trips. 
  • This was 92% of pre-COVID levels.  
  • Spend was $112 million, 120% of pre-COVID levels. 

Regional and capital city visitors and spend 

In August 2023, international visitors made 504,000 trips to Australia’s capital cities. 

• This was 77% of pre-COVID levels.  
• Spend was $2.0 billion, 84% of pre-COVID levels. 

In August 2023, international visitors made 150,000 trips to Australia’s regional areas. 

• This was 65% of pre-COVID levels.  
• Spend was $606 million, 68% of pre-COVID levels.  

Total spend 

Total spend in August 2023 was $3.2 billion. This was 91% of pre-COVID levels.  

Total spend includes purchases made overseas such as:  

• international connections and stopovers (including airfares)  
• other pre-travel or post-travel spend in the source market or elsewhere outside Australia such as luggage, visas, duty-free retail and ground transport. 

Data tables

Read more

• Explore data from our international and national visitor surveys using TRA Online. Find out more on our Services page.
• Read the International Visitor Survey methodology.
• Find previous reports on our Data and research page.