The NSW visitor economy reported a record-breaking year in FY24, achieving a new high of $52.9 billion in total expenditure and exceeding pre-pandemic levels for both international visitor nights and spending – hitting $12.2 billion in the year to June 2024.
The latest Tourism Research Australia (TRA) data shows NSW was Australia’s top destination for international visitors, visitor nights and expenditure during the period.
The NSW visitor economy’s top three international source markets were the US, New Zealand and China – with China overtaking the UK to take out third place in FY24.
NSW visitor economy record numbers
NSW attracted 3.7 million international visitors in FY24 (up 35.6%) who stayed 99.1 million nights (up 46.2%) and spent $12.2 billion (up 41.9%).
International visitor spending rose to $11.1 billion in Sydney and $1.2 billion in regional NSW, surpassing expenditure during the same period in 2019.
Overall, the NSW visitor economy welcomed 101.6 million domestic and international visitors in FY24.
Sydney was the number one Australian capital city for visitors, visitor nights and expenditure in FY24. It received 37.5 million international and domestic visitors who spent $26.8 billion – 20 per cent on pre-pandemic levels.
Meanwhile, regional NSW was the most popular destination across regional Australia in FY24 with 65.4 million international and domestic visitors of which 0.7 million international visitors stayed 17.1 million nights.
First Nations tourism ramps up
First Nations experiences contributed to the lift for the NSW visitor economy with 801,900 international and domestic overnight visitors participating in an Aboriginal tourism experience in NSW. These visitors stayed 20 million nights and spent $3.2 billion.
The data shows 512,500 international visitors participated in an Aboriginal tourism experience across NSW in FY24 (up 39.3% on FY19), staying 18.9 million nights (up 42.8%) and contributing $2.7 billion in spend (up 63.7%).
Meanwhile, 289,400 domestic overnight visitors (up 15.2% YOY) participated in an Aboriginal tourism experience across NSW in FY24, staying 1.1 million nights (up 21.6 %) and spending $498.8 million (up 14.8%).
NSW continues to lead Australia’s recovery
NSW Tourism Minister John Graham said: “The latest data confirms that NSW is Australia’s number one destination for both domestic and international visitors.”
“NSW attracted record-breaking visitor expenditure throughout the last financial year and is leading Australia’s international visitor revival.”
NSW aims to be the premier visitor economy in the Asia-Pacific region by 2030.
Destination NSW CEO Steve Cox said: “NSW continues to break its own records for visitor economy growth and Destination NSW has a laser focus on leveraging the state’s strengths to fast-track the return of international visitation to 2019 levels.”
In the 12 months to June 2024, Australia received eight million international visitors – up 2.1 million (36%) on the previous year but still 1.4 million visitors down (15%) on 2019 levels.
For more info, head to destinationnsw.com.au
