The latest International Visitor Survey by Tourism Research Australia (TRA) shows NSW welcomed the largest share of international visitors and highest expenditure in the nation in the year ending March 2024, with visitors spending more nights in the state than pre-COVID-19.
NSW was also number one in Australia for domestic visitation, visitor nights and expenditure. The state welcomed 100.3 million domestic visitors who stayed 117.8 million nights. NSW and Sydney both achieved their highest domestic expenditure on record in the year ending March 2024, at $41 billion and $15.7 billion respectively.
There were 3.7 million international visitors to NSW during the period, who stayed 95.2 million nights and spent $11.8 billion.
Sydney was the number one capital city for visitors, visitor nights and expenditure receiving 3.4 million international visitors who stayed 79.9 million nights and spent an estimated $10.7 billion; 694,400 international visitors to regional NSW stayed 15.3 million visitor nights and spent an estimated $1.1 billion.
Regional NSW was Australia’s favourite regional destination for domestic travellers, attracting 66 million visitors in the year ending March 2024. It was also the domestic day trip capital of Australia, recording 38.9 million domestic day trips. The top three regions were the Hunter at 114.7 per cent of March 2020 results, the South Coast at 113.2 per cent and New England North West at 112.3 per cent.
“These results confirm the NSW visitor economy is celebrating a strong and fast recovery,” said Destination NSW Acting CEO Ian Maltman. “NSW is Australia’s top destination for international visitors, while domestic visitor expenditure has hit a record high of $41 billion for NSW and $15.7 billion for Sydney.”
“Destination NSW has a laser focus on ensuring NSW continues to deliver the country’s best visitor experiences, through investment in its capability-building NSW First industry program, marketing initiatives and vibrant events calendar.”
– The largest percentage of international arrivals came from the United States, New Zealand and China.
– The largest source market for international visitors to regional NSW was the United Kingdom (18 per cent).
– The fastest growing international source markets for visitors to Sydney were South Korea (up 19.4 per cent), India (up 12.4 per cent) and Indonesia (up 4.9 per cent).
– The fastest-growing source markets for international visitors to regional NSW were India (up 15.8 per cent), the Netherlands (up 4.1 per cent) and Indonesia (up 116.5 per cent).
IMAGE: sydney.com
