Who spends the most? An analysis of visitor spend in Australia.

Ever wonder who are the cheapest tourists out there? Analysis of recent data from the International Visitors Survey shows the Kiwis are with just $2,034 per visitor. An average Chinese visitor spends the most ($8,344).

Figure 1 International Visitor, Average Trip Expenditure ($)

Source: Lucid Economics, TRA (2018)

The figures are based on total trip expenditure (regardless of length of stay). Visitors from the US, Singapore and Switzerland spend the most on a per night basis, $267, $241 and $222, respectively. The poor Americans don’t get much time off and have one of the shortest lengths of stay (looks like they are blowing their entire two weeks’ vacation on Australia!).

So, you may be quick to say that the high Chinese expenditure would be caused by their relatively long length of stay due to a high number of Chinese visitors coming to Australia for education purposes…and you would be partially correct. Education makes up 53% of Chinese visitor nights, however, only 16% of total visitors. Leisure visitors from China make up 54% of total Chinese visitors to Australia (which is a higher % than for Americans). And guess who is number four in terms of average per night expenditure, that’s right…China at $199. And don’t worry about the poor Kiwis, it looks like they actually don’t stay long and spend $195 per night, fifth highest.

For the record, the average Australian tourist spends $664 per trip and $184 per night.

If you are interested to know more about your local tourism markets, foreign or domestic, get in touch with us at info@lucideconomics.com.au or 1-800-940-990.