6 Apr 2023

NSW visitor economy leads the nation

NSW has triumphed as Australia’s number one destination, with domestic and international visitors delivering almost $42 billion in expenditure to the state’s visitor economy in the year ending December 2022.  

The latest Tourism Research Australia (TRA) International Visitor Survey and National Visitor Survey results show NSW led the nation for international visitor numbers, absolute growth and market share. The state also recorded the highest absolute growth nationally in domestic overnight visitors, nights and expenditure.

There were nearly 1.6 million international visitors who stayed 44.2 million nights and spent $5 billion in NSW in the reporting period. The growth in international arrivals was driven largely by travellers visiting family and friends, who stayed nearly three times longer than holidaymakers, plus booming interest in NSW as a travel destination from the United States.

In the year ending December 2022, NSW welcomed 93.8 million domestic overnight and daytrip visitors who spent $36.9 billion, leading Australia and accounting for 30.3 percent of all visitors and 28.3 per cent of all expenditure.

Destination NSW CEO Steve Cox said NSW was on track to achieve the NSW Visitor Economy Strategy 2030 goal of $65 billion in visitor expenditure by 2030.

“NSW is Australia’s leading visitor destination,” Mr Cox said. “From Broken Hill to Lord Howe Island and Byron Bay to Eden, there is a huge appetite to Feel New in NSW.

“These results reflect the contributions by everyone engaged in the visitor economy, from industry stakeholders to local communities, who are helping turbocharge our recovery and return visitor expenditure to almost match pre-COVID-19 levels of $43.3 billion.

“From the magic moments created by sharing local highlights with visiting family and friends to the diverse, world-class experiences and attractions on offer in NSW, our visitor experience is unmatched.”

Visitor economy growth will be turbocharged during April, with Sydney Airport gearing up for its busiest Easter since 2019. More than 2.4 million passengers are forecast to pass through the terminals from 3-23 April 2023. This represents a 90 per cent recovery compared to the equivalent 21-day Easter holiday peak in 2019, and a 34 per cent increase on passenger volumes during the 2022 Easter holiday period.