International research
Explore the latest survey results and market profiles
On this page
- International visitation data
- International tourism summaries
The Tourism, Events and Visitor Economy's (TEVE) international research data includes:
- the latest International Visitors Survey results for Victoria by campaign region and by country of origin, including visitors, nights and expenditure
- future visitation forecasts
- international tourism summaries providing the latest tourism data by market including information on visitor numbers, nights and expenditure, purpose of visit, trends, growth and market share, regional dispersal and places visited, repeat visitation and aviation share data.
International visitation
International Visitor Survey results, year ending September 2018 key findings:
Figure 1: Key international visitor highlights for Victoria
Figure 2: International overnight visitation summary results
For the year ending September 2018, key points include:
- International expenditure in Victoria continued to break records to reach $8.3 billion in the year ending September 2018, representing growth of 8.6 per cent and increasing market share of expenditure by 0.9 percentage points. Victoria well exceeded the national growth rate for spend (+5.2 per cent) and key competitor New South Wales (+2.1 per cent), although lagged behind Queensland (+11.5 per cent) which recorded very strong growth from China and continued to see the impact of the boost from the Commonwealth Games in this period.
- Victoria experienced year-on-year growth in international visitors to reach 3.0 million (+6.4 per cent), above the national average growth rate (+5.7 per cent) and key competitors Queensland (+4.6 per cent) and New South Wales (+3.4 per cent).
- Melbourne experienced strong year-on-year growth in international spend (+9.5 per cent), outperforming the national capital city average (+6.9 per cent) and Sydney (+3.1 per cent), although behind very strong performances from Brisbane (+20.5 per cent) and the Gold Coast (13.3 per cent) which were boosted in this period by the Commonwealth Games and strong growth from China.
- International overnight expenditure in regional Victoria declined by 2.6 per cent year-on-year to reach $542 million, below its recent performance. Nationally, regional spend declined at a higher rate (-3.5 per cent). International visitors decreased marginally by 1.4% to 528,300, below the national regional average growth rate (+3.8 per cent). A decline in international overnight visitors to regional Victoria from Western markets (-6.2 per cent) was noted, while Eastern markets continued to increase, albeit at a slower pace (+4.5 per cent).
- Double-digit increases in spend in Victoria were recorded from Indian (+35.5 per cent) and Chinese (+20.4 per cent) visitors, driving overall growth in expenditure. Malaysia eclipsed New Zealand to become the third largest market for international spend for Victoria with growth of 7.3 per cent. Conversely, New Zealand declined further by 13.4 per cent, with the United Kingdom also back into decline (-2.0 per cent). Other top ten markets to grow strongly included Japan (+16.3 per cent) and Indonesia (+11.8 per cent), while Singapore (-14.9 per cent), Hong Kong (-9.9 per cent) and the USA declined (-0.7 per cent).
Please note that the International Visitor Survey (IVS) results for the September quarter 2018 are preliminary and do not include any data relating to purpose of visit. This is because the quality of the main purpose of visit component of the passenger data supplied to Tourism Research Australia (TRA) by the Department of Home Affairs has been identified as a concern. There are no issues with the survey collection. Work is currently in progress to resolve these issues and it is likely that a back cast of TRA data will be required. TRA will release revised estimates once a solution has been implemented.
Next release: March 2019 (TBC)
Visit the Tourism Research Australia website;
How many international travellers visit Victoria, where do they come from and how much do they spend?
- International Visitor Survey infographic year ending September 2018 (PDF 353.56 KB)
- International visitation and expenditure year ending September 2018 (XLSX 827.63 KB)
How many international travellers will visit Victoria in the future?
Want to know more about our international markets?
Tourism Australia produces a range of information on international visitation research and market intelligence including market segmentation studies, visitor profiles and aviation information.
Other international research
- Research on International Education within the Visitor Economy was released in October 2018.
The research includes a profile of international education visitors, top spending origin markets, travel to Melbourne and regional Victoria, activities undertaken and forecast figures.
- Research on Chinese visitors to Victoria was released in October 2018.
The research includes a profile of Chinese visitors, travel to regional Victoria, activities undertaken and forecast figures, as well as insights on Chinese-born residents living and studying in Victoria.
- Research on Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) in Victoria, focusing on the Chinese and Indian markets, was released on 29 June 2017 and can be found on the Tourism Research Australia website.
The research explores the motivations, behaviours and influences of these visitors and their hosts. Insights and opportunities are included in the executive summary and infographics with a comprehensive report available upon request.
International tourism summaries
These documents provide a summary of the latest tourism data for visitors from different international markets to Victoria.
Information includes:
- visitor numbers
- nights and expenditure
- trends, growth and market share
- purpose of visit
- regional dispersal and places visited
- repeat visitation
- related aviation shares.
State Government of Victoria
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Page updated: 10 Jan 2019