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 December 2018 key findings:
Figure 1: Key international visitor highlights for Victoria
Figure 2: International overnight visitation summary results
For the year ending December 2018, key points include:
- International expenditure in Victoria continued to break records to reach $8.5 billion in the year ending December 2018, returning to double-digit growth of 12.9%. Victoria well exceeded the national growth rate for spend (+8.0%) and key competitor New South Wales (+4.3%), although was marginally behind Queensland (+13.3%).
- Victoria experienced year-on-year growth in international visitors to reach 3.0 million (+5.4%), above the national average growth rate (+4.8%) and key competitors New South Wales (+3.0%) and Queensland (+2.3%).
- Melbourne experienced strong double-digit growth in international spend (+13.0%), outperforming the national capital cities average (+9.0%) and more than double the growth rate of Sydney (+4.9%), although behind strong performances from Brisbane (+21.2%) and the Gold Coast (+17.9%), which were boosted in this period by strong growth from China.
- International overnight expenditure in regional Victoria increased at a double-digit pace of 11.1% year-on-year to reach $581 million. Nationally, regional spend increased at a much lower rate (+2.8%). International visitors to regional Victoria increased by 6.1% to 565,000, also above the national regional average growth rate (+4.1%). The return to growth was driven by an increase in visitors from Western markets (+7.3%) after a period of decline, with growth also recorded from Eastern markets (+4.7%).
- Double-digit increases in spend were recorded from Indian (+44.3%) and Chinese (+23.9%) visitors, driving overall growth in expenditure. A number of markets recorded solid growth after recent declines including the USA (+7.7%) and the United Kingdom (+4.7%), while New Zealand (-4.8%) and Singapore (-1.1%) declined. Notably, spend growth from Japan was flat in the period (+0.0%) driven by a large decline in nights (-28.4%), marking a shift from the positive spend growth seen from this market over the past few years, largely fueled by airline capacity increases (average annual growth of +15.5 per cent per annum over the period 2013-2018).
Note: The International Visitor Survey (IVS) results for the year ending December 2018 includes purpose-of-visit information (previously withheld) and revisions to estimates from 2005 to 2018. The revisions focus on purpose-of-visit estimates reflecting changes to passenger card data from the Department of Home Affairs used to benchmark the IVS, with minimal change to visitor, nights and spend estimates nationally. As these results have been revised back to 2005, please do not use/compare previously published data.
Next release: June 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 December 2018 (PDF 159.84 KB)
- International visitation and expenditure year ending December 2018 (XLSX 755.75 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
- The research report on Chinese Free and Independent Travellers – their potential for Regional Australia was released in March 2019 and can be found on the Tourism Research Australia website.
The report focusses on the Chinese free and independent travellers (FIT) market who are more likely to stay longer and disperse beyond Australia’s major gateway cities, compared with their non-FIT or group tour counterparts. The research assesses the barriers which inhibit greater regional dispersal and identifies areas for possible action and considers the issue of regional dispersal from both supply and demand sides.
- 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
Updated bi-annually, Victoria's Top 10 International Markets year ending December 2018 Factsheet (PDF 691.06 KB) provides a snapshot of Victoria’s top international source markets in terms of visitors, nights and expenditure, along with growth and splits for Melbourne and Regional Victoria.
The below documents, updated annually, 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.
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Page updated: 1 Apr 2019