Domestic and regional research

National Visitor Survey results, year ending March 2018

Table 1: Key domestic visitation results for Victoria - year ending March 2018

A table containing information on overnight visitor expenditure estimates, overnight visitor estimates and visitor night estimates, including airfares and long distance transport costs, for both Melbourne and regional Victoria, for year ending March 2018. Also includes percentage change from 2017 to 2018.

For the year ending March 2018 (released 20 June 2018), key points include:

Victoria recorded solid growth for all key measures.
Growth of 7.5% was recorded in domestic overnight expenditure in Victoria to reach $13.6 billion. Growth in spend was ahead of the national average growth rate (+5.5%) and Queensland (+5.8%), however behind key competitor New South Wales (+14.9%).
Overall expenditure growth for Victoria was driven by double-digit growth in intrastate overnight expenditure (+10.1%) with more moderate growth in interstate overnight spend (4.9%).
Total domestic overnight visitors to and within Victoria also performed well with an increase of 6.6% to 24.0 million. The year-on-year growth in visitors was in line with the national average (+6.7%) and above Queensland (+2.6%), although behind a strong performance from New South Wales (+9.8%).
Visitor growth in Victoria was driven by increases in both the intrastate (+7.2% to 16.5 million visitors) and interstate (+5.5% to 7.5 million visitors) markets. Visitor nights in Victoria increased (+4.5%) to reach 68.3 million nights, in line with the national average (+4.5%) and Queensland (+4.6%), while slightly behind New South Wales (+5.1%).
Growth in domestic overnight expenditure in Victoria in the year ending March 2018 was noted from the major purpose segments including Holiday (+10.6%), Business (+4.2%) and VFR (+3.4%), while the Other purpose segment recorded a decline (-9.7%). Spend by Holiday visitors comprised the majority of domestic overnight visitor spend in Victoria (56%), followed by VFR (21%) and Business (19%).
Domestic overnight visitors continued to spend more in Melbourne ($7.7 billion), ahead of Sydney ($7.4 billion) and Brisbane ($4.4 billion). Growth in spend was recorded for Melbourne (+4.5%), in line with the capital cities average (+4.6%),
Interstate overnight visitors to Melbourne accounted for $5.4 billion in expenditure, 5.8 million visitors and 18.5 million nights, with growth recorded for spend (+3.8%), visitors (+5.1%) and nights (+1.3%).
Regional Victoria recorded a strong double-digit increase in spend (+11.6% to $5.9 billion), above the national regional average (+6.3%). Increases were also recorded in visitors (+7.3% to 15.6 million) and nights (+4.6% to 42.9 million). Overnight expenditure and visitor growth in regional Victoria were driven by both intrastate (spend: +12.2%, visitors: +7.5%) and interstate (spend: +9.6%, visitors: +6.3%) markets.
Daytrip expenditure in Victoria grew by 9.1% year-on-year to reach $5.2 billion, ahead of the national average growth rate (+6.0%). The increase in daytrip expenditure was a result of strong double-digit increases in daytrip spend in both regional Victoria (+9.5%) and Melbourne (+8.4%).

How many Australians visit Victoria, where are they from and how much do they spend?