National Visitor Survey (NVS) results, year ending September 2021

Figure 1: Key domestic visitor highlights for Victoria

Some top line stats for domestic travel to and within Victoria for the year ending September 2021. Spend $9.5 billion down 43 per cent on the year ending September 2019. Visitors 17.3 million down 41 per cent on the year ending September 2019. Nights 56.1 million down 32 per cent on the year ending September 2019. Day trips 39.2 million down 39 per cent on the year ending September 2019.

Figure 2: Domestic overnight visitation summary results

Table Title - Victorian Domestic Overnight Visitor Summary Table, Year ending September 2021. Column one title is Visitor Expenditure Estimates (includes airfares and long-distance transport costs). Victoria: $16.5 billion in 2019, $9.5 billion in 2021, down 43 per cent. Melbourne: $9.4 billion in 2019, $3.0 billion in 2021, down 69 per cent. Regional Victoria: $7.1 billion in 2019, $6.5 billion in 2021, down 8 per cent. Column two title is Overnight Visitor Estimates. Victoria: 29.4 million in 2019, 17.3 million in 2021, down 41 per cent. Melbourne: 11.3 million in 2019, 4.0 million in 2021, down 64 per cent. Regional Victoria: 18.9 million in 2019, 13.7 million in 2021, down 28 per cent. Column three title is Visitor Nights Estimates. Victoria: 82.1 million in 2019, 56.1 million in 2021, down 32 per cent. Melbourne: 30.9 million in 2019, 13.1 million in 2021, down 58 per cent. Regional Victoria: 51.2 million in 2019, 43.1 million in 2021, down 16 per cent.

For the year ending September 2021 (released December 2021), key points include:

  • The results for the year ending September 2021 continued to record declines for all key measures compared to the pre-pandemic year ending September 2019 although some results noted some improvement relative to last year during a period of lengthy restrictions in Victoria.
  • Total domestic expenditure (overnight and daytrip) in Victoria fell 41 per cent in the year ending September 2019 to 2021 to $13.5 billion, a decline of $9.4 billion.
  • Domestic overnight expenditure in Victoria was $9.5 billion in the year ending September 2021, noting a 43% decline (or $7.0 billion loss) compared to the pre-pandemic year ending September 2019.
  • Melbourne suffered a large fall in domestic overnight spend (-69% to $3.0 billion) with a loss of $6.4 billion compared to the year ending September 2019 (or 92% of the total decrease in domestic overnight spend in Victoria in the period), due to its higher reliance on interstate visitors and extended restrictions. In comparison, regional Victoria recorded a decline of 8% (or down ($596 million) compared to the pre-pandemic year ending September 2019. As such, domestic overnight spend is more than double the value in regional Victorian compared to Melbourne, generating 69% of total domestic overnight spend in Victoria in the year ending September 2021 compared to 43% in the year ending September 2019 (pre-COVID-19).
  • Intrastate overnight spend in regional Victoria was above pre-pandemic levels (+5%) reflecting some recovery during the year when movement was enabled. The largest loss in spend in regional Victoria was noted from interstate travel due to state border closures (-57% or down $861 million compared to the year ending September 2019). Melbourne’s loss was also most impacted by the severe fall in interstate overnight spend (-$4.7 billion) compared to the year ending September 2019 (pre-COVID-19).
  • Daytrip spend to/within Victoria declined by 37% to $4.0 billion in the year ending September 2021 (-$2.3 billion compared to the pre-pandemic year ending September 2019), with a higher rate of decline in daytrip spend in Melbourne (-41%) compared to regional Victoria (-34%).

How many Australians visit Victoria, where are they from and how much do they spend?

Previous releases:

Visit Tourism Research Australia for a range of interactive dashboards and monthly domestic visitor data.

Next NVS release: March 2022 (TBC)

Where are Victoria's tourism regions, and what do we know about regional visitation?

How many Australians will visit Victoria in the future?

Domestic Visitor Profiles

Visit Tourism Research Australia to access a suite of 22 domestic visitor profiles to better understand various domestic visitor segments based on who they are (e.g. family group) or what activities they undertake (e.g. Arts and Culture).

Page last updated 30 June 2021. Data considered correct at time of publishing.