State of the Environment

2006

Indicator: HS-79 Number of international and domestic tourists

Data

International Tourism in Australia, 2001 and 2004
2001 2004
State and Region No. of Visitors (000) % Visitors No. of Visitors (000) % Visitors
New South Wales
Sydney Region 2 757 23.74 2 768 24.53
North Coast 389 3.35 357 3.16
Canberra 191 1.65 160 1.42
Inland 178 1.53 207 1.84
South Coast 68 0.58 65 0.58
Snowy Mountains 26 0.22 20 0.18
Outback 24 0.21 17 0.15
NSW Total 3 633 31.28 3 594 31.86
Victoria
Melbourne Region 1 282 11.03 1 372 12.15
Inland 157 1.35 202 1.79
South Coast 153 1.32 167 1.48
Gippsland/Lakes 74 0.64 74 0.65
VIC Total 1 666 14.34 1 815 16.07
Queensland
South East Queensland 1 836 15.81 1 888 16.73
Tropical North Queensland 975 8.40 938 8.31
North Coast/Reef 681 5.86 635 5.63
Outback 55 0.47 38 0.34
Inland 33 0.28 31 0.28
QLD Total 3 580 30.82 3 530 31.29
South Australia
Adelaide Region 382 3.29 344 3.05
Outback 67 0.58 49 0.44
Limestone Coast 59 0.51 45 0.39
Flinders Ranges 58 0.50 43 0.38
Kangaroo Island 34 0.29 35 0.31
York and Eyre Peninsulas 19 0.17 21 0.19
Riverland/Murray 13 0.11 13 0.12
SA Total 632 5.45 550 4.88
Western Australia
Perth Region 557 4.80 572 5.07
South West 126 1.09 99 0.88
Coral Coast 76 0.65 69 0.61
North West 59 0.51 51 0.45
Outback 48 0.41 46 0.41
WA Total 866 7.46 837 7.42
Tasmania
Hobart Region 87 0.75 89 0.79
Northern 49 0.43 50 0.44
West Coast 39 0.54 33 0.47
East Coast 26 0.22 27 0.24
Southern 22 0.19 21 0.19
TAS Total 223 2.13 220 2.13
Northern Territory
Outback 664 5.72 490 4.34
Darwin Region 203 1.75 144 1.28
Tropical North 123 1.06 86 0.76
NT Total 990 8.53 720 6.38
Australia Total 11 592 100.00 11 266 100.00

Source: Tourism Australia 2005, International Tourism in Australia, 2001 and 2004, Tourism Australia, Canberra.

Domestic Tourism in Australia by Tourism Regions – 2001 and 2004
Domestic Tourism in Australia, 2001 Domestic Tourism in Australia, 2004
State and Region No. of Overnight trips (000) % Overnight trips No. of Visitor nights (000) % of Visitor nights State and Region No. of Overnight trips (000) % Overnight trips No. of Visitor nights (000) % Visitor nights
NSW NSW
Sydney Region 13 416 15.63 37 973 13.34 Sydney Region 12 834 14.70 35 527 12.06
Inland 6 490 7.56 17 204 6.04 Inland 6 653 7.62 17 661 5.99
North Coast 5 096 5.94 19 831 6.97 North Coast 5 217 5.98 20 376 6.92
South Coast 2 657 3.10 10 051 3.53 South Coast 2 486 2.85 9 323 3.16
Canberra 2 107 2.45 5 749 2.02 Canberra 1 887 2.16 5 107 1.73
Snowy Mountains 660 0.77 2 052 0.72 Snowy Mountains 780 0.89 3 051 1.04
Outback 497 0.58 1 398 0.49 Outback 491 0.56 2 735 0.93
NSW Total 30 923 36.03 94 258 33.11 NSW Total 30 348 34.76 93 780 31.83
VIC VIC
Melbourne Region 10 105 11.77 30 628 10.76 Melbourne Region 9 534 10.92 28 027 9.51
Inland 5 754 6.70 14 602 5.13 Inland 6 090 6.98 16 283 5.53
South Coast 1 694 1.97 5 026 1.77 Gippsland/Lakes 1 861 2.13 5 300 1.80
Gippsland/Lakes 1 681 1.96 4 840 1.70 South Coast 1 752 2.01 4 889 1.66
VIC Total 19 234 22.40 55 096 19.36 VIC Total 19 237 22.04 54 499 18.50
QLD QLD
South East Queensland 10 298 12.00 41 858 14.70 South East Queensland 11 106 12.72 44 903 15.24
North Coast/Reef 3 947 4.60 14 878 5.23 North Coast/Reef 3 724 4.27 14 695 4.99
Tropical North Queensland 2 186 2.55 11 107 3.90 Tropical North Queensland 2 419 2.77 11 302 3.84
Inland 1 221 1.42 3 259 1.14 Inland 1 453 1.66 3 588 1.22
Outback 714 0.83 3 226 1.13 Outback 677 0.78 3 178 1.08
QLD Total 18 366 21.40 74 328 26.10 QLD Total 19 379 22.20 77 666 26.37
SA SA
Adelaide Region 3 373 3.93 10 567 3.71 Adelaide Region 3 600 4.12 11 996 4.07
York and Eyre Peninsulas 790 0.92 2 915 1.02 York and Eyre Peninsulas 914 1.05 3 546 1.20
Riverland/Murray 651 0.76 1 809 0.64 Riverland/Murray 698 0.80 2 037 0.69
Limestone Coast 646 0.75 1 696 0.60 Limestone Coast 580 0.66 1 580 0.54
Flinders Ranges 419 0.49 1 254 0.44 Flinders Ranges 432 0.49 1 120 0.38
Outback 181 0.21 631 0.22 Outback 178 0.20 719 0.24
Kangaroo Island 84 0.10 365 0.13 Kangaroo Island 104 0.12 482 0.16
SA Total 6 144 7.16 19 237 6.76 SA Total 6 506 7.44 21 480 7.28
WA WA
Perth Region 3 314 3.86 10 945 3.84 Perth Region 3 161 3.62 11 742 3.99
South West 1 828 2.13 6 755 2.37 South West 2 026 2.32 8 142 2.76
Outback 775 0.90 3 020 1.06 Outback 782 0.90 3 106 1.05
Coral Coast 638 0.74 3 099 1.09 Coral Coast 606 0.69 3 203 1.09
North West 556 0.65 3 717 1.31 North West 517 0.59 4 572 1.55
WA Total 7 111 8.28 27 536 9.67 WA Total 7 092 8.12 30 765 10.44
TAS TAS
Hobart Region 702 0.82 2 607 0.92 Hobart Region 1 025 1.17 3 776 1.28
Northern 673 0.78 1 900 0.67 Northern 820 0.94 2 275 0.77
West Coast 427 0.68 1 176 0.52 West Coast 493 0.82 1 678 0.73
East Coast 299 0.35 857 0.30 East Coast 375 0.43 1 002 0.34
Southern 267 0.31 642 0.23 Southern 311 0.36 844 0.29
TAS Total 2 368 2.94 7 182 2.64 TAS Total 3 024 3.72 9 575 3.41
NT NT
Outback 824 0.96 3 091 1.09 Outback 721 0.83 2 429 0.82
Darwin Region 502 0.58 2 778 0.98 Darwin Region 531 0.61 3 300 1.12
Tropical North 198 0.23 876 0.31 Tropical North 226 0.26 672 0.23
NT Total 1 524 1.77 6 745 2.38 NT Total 1 478 1.70 6 401 2.17
Australia Total 8 5670 100.00 28 4382 100.00 Australia Total 87 064 100.00 294 166 100.00
Notes: Correlation between overnight trips and visitor nights indices are 0.97

Tourism Australia 2005, Domestic Tourism in Australia by Tourism Regions 2001 and 2004, Tourism Australia, Canberra.

Domestic Tourism by Nature of Activity, 2001 and 2004
2001 2004
No. (000) % No. (000) %
Outdoor or nature activities
Sum of Overnight trips 23 408 18.2 24 818 18.3
Sum of Visitor nights 109 435 20.5 114 593 20.0
Sports or active outdoor activities
Sum of Overnight trips 16 691 13.0 17 210 12.7
Sum of Visitor nights 74 260 13.9 79 091 13.8
Arts, heritage or festival activities
Sum of Overnight trips 7 602 5.9 9 184 6.8
Sum of Visitor nights 34 749 6.5 41 241 7.2
Local attractions or tourist activities
Sum of Overnight trips 9 346 7.3 12 356 9.1
Sum of Visitor nights 48 892 9.2 60 954 10.7
Social and others
Sum of Overnight trips 60 904 47.4 62 401 46.1
Sum of Visitor nights 236 994 44.4 245 902 43.0
None of these
Sum of Overnight trips 9 843 7.7 8 867 6.5
Sum of Visitor nights 24 008 4.5 23 692 4.1
Activities not asked
Sum of Overnight trips 647 0.5 552 0.4
Sum of Visitor nights 5 970 1.1 6 280 1.1
Totals
Sum of Overnight trips 128 441 100.0 135 388 100.0
Sum of Visitor nights 534 308 100.0 571 753 100.0

Tourism Australia 2005, Domestic Tourism by Nature of Activity, 2001 and 2004, Tourism Australia, Canberra.

Proportion of people visiting a World Heritage Area, National or State Park Australia - 1992-2004

Proportion of people visiting a World Heritage Area, National or State Park Australia - 1992-2004

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004, Environmental Issues: Peoples views and practices 2004, Australian Bureau of Statistics.

What the data mean

In 2003-04 Australia received more than five million international visitors and Australians themselves made over 85 million visits to places within Australia. For international visitors to Australia those travelling for tourism represent at least two thirds of this total.

Nearly two thirds (64%) of the tourists from overseas in 2004 visited the regions around capital cities compared to 6% who visited the outback regions. These figures were 61% and 7% respectively in 2001. The second largest of overseas tourists (17%) visited the tropical and subtropical east coast region (approximately from Byron Bay to Cairns), which includes the rainforest and reef. Only in the Northern Territory did the number of tourists visiting the outback exceed those visiting the capital city region.

Capital cities were the dominant destination for domestic tourism as well accounting for about half of total visitor nights. A further 25% was to regions contiguous with city regions.

Around 20% of total visitor nights in domestic tourism was spent on outdoor or nature activities. Although trend data on visitor numbers are not available, surveys of the attitudes of Australians indicate that proportion of people visiting a World Heritage area, National or State Park declined over the period from 63% in1992 to 52% in 2004.

Issues for which this is an indicator and why

Human Settlements — External pressures on human settlements - Tourism 

The number of tourists, both international and domestic, adds to the population pressures created by human settlements on the environment through the use of infrastructure and services.

Key

   Links to another web site
   Links to data in the DRS
   Opens a pop-up window

PDF files

Adobe Acrobat Reader  is required to view PDF files.

If you are unable to access a PDF file, please contact us to organise a suitable alternative format.