Opportunities for the Visitor Economy report

Summary

This research report examines trends and explores opportunities for the visitor economy in a post-COVID world. You can use the report to inform considerations of how to achieve long-term success for Australia’s visitor economy.

Supplements

• Report Overview (PDF 172KB)
• Importance of the Visitor Economy (PDF 348KB)
• Insight Summary: Diversification (PDF 202KB)
• Insight Summary: Modernisation (PDF 235KB)

Key findings and opportunities

The visitor economy should build its future by:

• diversifying its markets and destinations 
• modernising its offer, assets and workforce
• collaborating at all levels to achieve these outcomes.

The report identifies 31 key findings and a large number of opportunities in these areas:

• the importance of the visitor economy to Australia’s economy
• the impact of the pandemic and recovery
• Australia’s domestic and global markets
• the need to provide compelling reasons to visit 
• the need to provide high quality experiences
• the importance of collaborating.

About the visitor economy

The visitor economy is made up of anyone who provides or promotes services to Australia’s domestic and international visitors.

It includes a diverse set of businesses that span several industry sectors and operate across cities and regional destinations.

In 2018–19, the Australian visitor economy:

• earned $39.6 billion in exports – the fourth-biggest sector
• provided 686,000 jobs – the eighth-biggest employer 
• was growing 45 per cent faster than the rest of Australia’s economy.

Read more

Read about what the government is doing to help the sector adapt and plan for the future.

Contact us

Email: visitoreconomy@austrade.gov.au