The number of trips to Australia across the whole visitor economy sits at 7.5 million for the year to September 2024, 86 per cent of 2019 levels. In the June figures, recovery was sitting at 85 per cent.
However, the new visitation data suggests travellers are spending longer in Australia, with nights spent Down Under up four per cent compared to 2019, despite the number of visitors being lower. Travellers spent 287 million nights in Australia over the year.
Spend in Australia is also up on 2019 levels, by three per cent to $32.3 billion.
In terms of business events activity, both domestic and international, spend continues to decline, with $19.8 billion spent in the 13 months to September 30, 2024, the same as the spend in the 12 months to June 2024. The June figures represented a $1.1 billion decline in spend compared to the 2023 calendar year, where spend was $20.9 billion.
International business events visitor spend is the same as the June 2024 figure, $2.5 billion, with domestic spend sitting at $17.3 billion. Of the domestic spend, $1 billion is attributed to day trips for business events.
Over the year from October 2023 to September 2024, New Zealand was the top international visitor source market for business events, by some way, with 166,000 visitors, followed by the USA in second, with 86,000 and China third with 57,000 visitors.
Other source markets in the top 10 include the UK, Singapore, India, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Indonesia.
Spend figures show the top three source countries in the same order, but significantly closer together, with business events visitors from New Zealand spending $287.9 million, US visitors spending $270.2 million and Chinese business events travellers spending $240.4 million.
