Tourism Research Australia (TRA) has released its annual State and Regional Tourism Satellite Accounts 2024–25, which confirm NSW had the highest share of tourism consumption in the nation.
Tourism satellite accounts produce measures for tourism against gross domestic product, gross value added, trade and employment.
Tourism consumption is the total amount of money spent on goods and services by or for visitors during a travel trip, including direct purchases, gifts, and estimated values for free or non-market services used while travelling.
Data for the 2024-25 financial year shows the tourism sector continued to rebound, with visitor expenditure in Australia reaching $184.3 billion, the highest on record. In NSW, total tourism expenditure reached a record high of $55.8 billion.
NSW visitors consumed $65.9 billion of tourism-related goods and services, an increase of 5.1 per cent on FY23-24 and 37.2 per cent on FY18-19.
The most consumed tourism category was takeaway and restaurant meals (15.5 per cent share), followed by food, alcohol and other beverage products (12.8 per cent), repair, maintenance and fuel for motor vehicles (11.9 per cent) and accommodation services (10.8 per cent).
The domestic overnight market accounted for the largest share (54.8 per cent) of NSW visitor expenditure in FY24-25, growing 7.9 per cent from FY23-24 to $30.6 billion. Domestic overnight visitors were also the leading contributor to absolute annual expenditure growth. The domestic day trip market in NSW grew by 10.3 per cent from FY23-24, reaching $12.1 billion.
International market expenditure in NSW grew by 8.7 per cent from FY23-24, reaching $13.1 billion. This was also 16.4 per cent higher than FY18-19.
There were 346,800 total tourism filled jobs in NSW during the period, up 4.1 per cent on the previous year and 13.6 per cent up on FY2018-19. NSW accounts for the largest share (29.8 per cent) of tourism filled jobs nationally.
Direct filled jobs accounted for 58.6 per cent (203,200) and indirect for 41.4 per cent (143,600) of total filled jobs in the state.
Tourism’s direct share of the national economy was 2.9 per cent in 2024–25. Direct tourism Gross State Product (GSP) for NSW was $1.4 billion (up 5.8 per cent year-on-year).
Indirect tourism GSP for all states and territories was $79 billion in 2024–25. Indirect tourism GSP for NSW was $26.3 billion (up 4.9 per cent year-on-year).
TRA has also published data about tourism consumption, jobs, and economic activity in 13 NSW regions.
Learn more here.
