New South Wales (NSW) has continued its dominant position with the greatest share of the Australian visitor economy for international visitors for the year. NSW accounted for 50.6 per cent of all visitors, 34.6 per cent of all nights and 35.0 per cent of all expenditure of international visitors to Australia.
For the first time since the revised time series, the number of Youth visitors to NSW exceeded one million (1.01 million, +4.2 per cent). Youth nights to NSW increased to 43.2 million, up by 1.7 million nights.
NSW increased its market share in both visitor nights (up from 32.7 per cent) and expenditure (up from 34.3 per cent). However, its share of visitors was down slightly from a 51.1 per cent share. It received 3.11 million international visitors who stayed 74.8 million nights and spent $6.9 billion. The key drivers of NSW visitor expenditure growth were Holiday (up $186.9 million, +8.5 per cent), China (up $172.4 million, +13.0 per cent), Visiting Friends and Relatives (up $115.7 million, +13.2 per cent), Education (up $110.9 million +5.5 per cent) and the United Kingdom (up $67.4 million +11.0 per cent).
Hong Kong, Malaysia, India, China and the USA recorded significant visitor growth (+20.7 per cent, +19.0 per cent +18.6 per cent, +8.4 per cent and +7.7 per cent, respectively). China also recorded significant expenditure growth (+13.0 per cent) while Hong Kong achieved significant nights growth (+35.5 per cent).
