Australia's tourism industry has moved from recovery to record. In the year ending December 2025, international visitors made 8.3 million trips to Australia and spent a record A$39.2 billion in the country, while the visitor economy as a whole — domestic and international combined — generated A$192.4 billion, up 6.5% on 2024. Tourism now contributes A$81.1 billion to GDP and supports 696,000 filled jobs. The figures below come from official sources — Tourism Research Australia (TRA), the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the Department of Home Affairs and the state tourism bodies — and are the latest available as of 2026.
Key Australia tourism statistics
- International visitors made 8.3 million trips to Australia in the year ending December 2025, up 8% on 2024 (Tourism Research Australia).
- International visitor spend in Australia hit a record A$39.2 billion in 2025, up 19% year on year (TRA).
- Total visitor economy spend — domestic plus international — reached A$192.4 billion in 2025, up 6.5% on 2024 (TRA annual benchmark report).
- Tourism GDP was A$81.1 billion in 2024–25 — 2.9% of the Australian economy — with 696,000 tourism-filled jobs, 4.4% of all employment (ABS Tourism Satellite Account).
- China is Australia's biggest-spending market, accounting for 29% of all international visitor spend in the year ending December 2025 (TRA International Visitor Survey).
- A record 206,187 working holiday makers were in Australia as at 30 June 2025, up from 170,437 at the end of 2023 (Department of Home Affairs).
- Australians took around 113 million domestic overnight trips in 2025, with day trips growing strongly (TRA).
International visitor spend: a record year
- Spend in Australia by international visitors reached A$39.2 billion in the year ending December 2025, up 19% on 2024 — more than three times the A$12.7 billion recorded in pandemic-hit 2022 (TRA).
- Including airfares and packages bought overseas, total trip spend was A$55.7 billion, up 14% year on year (TRA).
- Education was the biggest single spend category at A$14.5 billion (up 25%), ahead of holiday travel at A$12.9 billion (up 18%) and visiting friends and relatives at A$5.4 billion (TRA).
- In the December quarter 2025 alone, visitors spent A$9.8 billion — up 27% on a year earlier and 33% above the pre-COVID December quarter of 2019 (TRA IVS).
- The momentum has carried into 2026: in the year ending March 2026 spend rose to A$40.9 billion (up 20%) across 8.5 million trips (TRA).
Arrivals: back to pre-COVID levels
- International trips reached 8.3 million in the year ending December 2025 — up from just 3.4 million in 2022, 6.6 million in 2023 and 7.6 million in 2024 (TRA).
- On the ABS arrivals measure, TRA's benchmark report puts international arrivals at 8.9 million in 2025 (TRA annual benchmark report).
- December 2025 was Australia's biggest month of the year with 1,036,660 short-term visitor arrivals, up 9.7% year on year and just 3.8% below the December 2019 record of 1,077,720 (ABS).
- December quarter 2025 trips were at 99% of pre-COVID levels, while nights spent in Australia were 18% above the December quarter of 2019 (TRA IVS).
- Visitors stayed a combined 312.7 million nights in the year ending December 2025, up 6% on 2024 (TRA).
Top source markets: New Zealand leads on trips, China on spend
- The top five markets by trips in the year ending December 2025 were New Zealand, China, the United Kingdom, the United States and India (TRA IVS).
- China is the largest contributor to spend, at 29% of the total — its spend rose 39% year on year, with trips up 18% (TRA IVS). The UK follows on 7% of spend, with New Zealand and the US on 6% each.
- UK visitor spend jumped 31% and trips 19% in 2025, buoyed by working holiday travel and the 2025–26 Ashes series — UK arrivals in December 2025 alone surged 33.6% to 138,610 (ABS). For the outbound picture from Britain, see our London tourism statistics.
- In December 2025, New Zealand supplied 13.7% of all arrivals (142,420 trips), ahead of the UK (138,610), the US (102,590) and China (83,120) (ABS).
- Older travellers are a growing force: 41% of Australia's 2.8 million visiting-friends-and-relatives trips in 2025 were made by people aged 60 and over, who stayed an average of 37 nights (TRA IVS).
Visitor economy, GDP and jobs
- Tourism GDP reached A$81.1 billion in 2024–25, up 3.8% on the previous year and equal to 2.9% of the economy (ABS Tourism Satellite Account).
- Tourism supported 696,000 filled jobs in 2024–25 — 4.4% of total employment — with accommodation adding 11,700 positions, the most of any tourism industry (ABS).
- Domestic tourism consumption was A$168.8 billion and international consumption A$42.3 billion (up 10.1%) in 2024–25 (ABS).
- TRA's more recent benchmark measure counted 736,800 tourism-filled jobs as at December 2025, up 4.7% on a year earlier, with around 12,000 tourism vacancies advertised online (TRA annual benchmark report).
- The scale puts Australia among the world's major visitor economies — for comparison with another tourism-dependent hub, see our Dubai tourism statistics.
Domestic tourism: 113 million overnight trips
- Australians took around 113 million domestic overnight trips in the year ending December 2025, broadly stable on 2024, while day trips grew strongly (TRA).
- In the March quarter 2026, domestic overnight trips totalled 28.9 million with spend of A$29.7 billion, up 3% year on year (TRA Domestic Tourism Statistics).
- Day trips surged to 71.2 million in the same quarter (up 9%), with day-trip spend up 30% to A$13.0 billion — a clear shift towards shorter, lower-cost travel (TRA).
- Overnight travellers spent A$8.5 billion on accommodation, A$4.5 billion on takeaway and restaurant meals and A$4.1 billion on domestic airfares in the March quarter 2026 (TRA).
Sydney, Melbourne and the states
- New South Wales is Australia's largest visitor economy: expenditure hit A$59.4 billion in the year ending September 2025 (up 7.3%), including a record A$14 billion from 4 million international visitors (Destination NSW).
- Sydney welcomed 3.9 million international visitors in the year ending March 2026, who stayed 89.9 million nights and spent A$13.9 billion — roughly a third of Australia's entire international spend (Destination NSW).
- Victoria's visitor economy reached a record A$46.7 billion in the 12 months to December 2025, with international spend up 7% to A$9.7 billion; Melbourne remained the top destination for interstate overnight leisure travellers, with 3.5 million visitors spending A$5.9 billion (Visit Victoria).
- International spend grew in almost every state in 2025: South Australia led on growth (up 31%), followed by Western Australia (30%), Tasmania (29%), New South Wales (25%) and Queensland (20%) (TRA IVS).
Working holiday makers at record levels
- There were 206,187 working holiday maker (subclass 417 and 462) visa holders in Australia as at 30 June 2025, up from 170,437 at 31 December 2023 (Department of Home Affairs).
- 141,841 working holiday visa applications were lodged in the six months to 30 June 2025, up 13.4% on the same period of 2024 (Home Affairs).
- The UK dominates first Working Holiday (417) grants with 42,383 in 2024–25, ahead of France (30,955), Germany (13,280), Italy (12,424) and South Korea (12,374) (Home Affairs).
- Third Working Holiday visa grants more than quadrupled (up 313.7%) in the first half of 2025, helped by the Australia–UK Free Trade Agreement exempting UK applicants from specified-work requirements (Home Affairs).
- Many working holiday makers travel independently — see our solo travel statistics and adventure travel statistics for the wider trend.
Sources
- Tourism Research Australia — International tourism results, year ending December 2025
- Tourism Research Australia — International tourism results, year ending March 2026
- Tourism Research Australia — International Visitor Survey results, December quarter 2025 (PDF)
- Tourism Research Australia — Annual benchmark report 2025
- Tourism Research Australia — Domestic Tourism Statistics results
- Australian Bureau of Statistics — Overseas Arrivals and Departures, December 2025
- Australian Bureau of Statistics — Tourism Satellite Account, 2024–25
- Department of Home Affairs — Working Holiday Maker visa program report, 30 June 2025 (PDF)
- Destination NSW — Record visitor expenditure for NSW
- Destination NSW — Sydney statistics
- Visit Victoria — Victoria's visitor economy reaches record high
