Looking for peace and tranquillity on your next domestic escape? Australia’s fave holiday hotspots can also be some of the most over-touristed spots with international visitors exceeding the number of residents.
With no shortage of natural appeal, Australia has some of the world’s most beautiful beaches, lush hinterlands, unique wildlife and stunning cities, making it a bucket-list destination for international travellers. But that also means these pristine natural spots are overly popular drawcards.
Australian company Kadi Luggage compared the latest international arrivals information with resident population sizes to uncover Australia’s most over-touristed spots.
Unsurprisingly, beachy destinations attracted the most international tourists, making seaside regions the most over-touristed spots in Australia.
Most over-touristed spots
With 4.2 tourists to every resident, the Whitsundays was Australia’s most over-touristed region, attracting 156,040 tourists annually to an area with just 37,152 locals.
The Whitsundays beat out another popular Queensland holiday hotspot, the Gold Coast, with 1.04 tourists to every resident.
Other over-touristed regions in Australia include the NSW South Coast with 1.82 tourists per resident and Tropical North Queensland with 1.53 tourists per resident.
The Hunter region, Sunshine Coast, NSW North Coast and Australia’s South West (WA) rounded out the list of most over-touristed regions.
Most over-touristed cities
For Australia’s most over-touristed cities, Gold Coast topped the list, followed by Great Ocean Road, Sydney, Hobart and South and Townsville.
Rounding out the top 10 are Brisbane (6), Canberra (7), Melbourne (8), Perth (9) and Adelaide (10).
When to go and when not to go
With Queensland locations over-indexed in the lists, Aussies keen to see these cities and regions and avoid overtourism should time their trip around school holidays and peak seasons.
For example, high season in the Whitsundays is September and October, however, visiting in November and December means you can beat the school holiday rush.
Summer is also peak season on the Gold Coast, so it’s best to visit between March and November.
December to February is high season in NSW as well, consider visiting during March to May and September to November for less crowds and pleasant temps.
September to November is also an ideal time to visit WA’s South West when the wildflowers are in bloom.
Aussie alternatives to over-touristed spots
Aussies can also look at less-frequented alternatives such as the Keppel Islands on the Southern Barrier Reef, the Gippsland region of Victoria and Kakadu National Park to experience quieter, natural locations similar to the popular drawcards.
Among its top 10 overseas locations, Intrepid Travel’s 2025 Not Hot List also picked Cape York as a lesser-known destination to discover.
