National Visitor Survey (NVS) results, year ending June 2022

Figure 1: Key domestic visitor highlights for Victoria

Figure 2: Domestic overnight visitation summary results

For the year ending June 2022 (released September 2022), key points include:

• Domestic overnight expenditure in Victoria was $12.7 billion in the year ending June 2022, up 44 per cent year-on-year, and back to 79 per cent of the pre-pandemic year ending June 2019 (down $3.5 billion).
• Regional Victoria is leading the state’s overall recovery with stronger performances for the year-to-date results, driven by local intrastate demand as people have chosen to travel closer to home, with some indicators back above pre-pandemic levels.
• Domestic overnight spend in regional Victoria has fully recovered and was ahead of the pre-pandemic year ending June 2019 recording an increase of eight per cent (or up $579 million). Domestic overnight spend in regional Victoria was worth $2.9 billion more than Melbourne, generating 61 per cent of total domestic overnight spend in Victoria in the year ending June 2022 compared to 45 per cent in the year ending June 2019 (pre-COVID-19). Overnight visitors to regional Victoria also increased (+13 per cent) to 14.9 million year-on-year, up 1.7 million visitors compared to the year ending June 2021. However, overnight visitors remained below pre-COVID-19 levels (-20 per cent or down 3.8 million).
• Intrastate overnight spend in regional Victoria was also well above the pre-pandemic year ending June 2019 (+19 per cent or +$1.1 billion) in the year ending June 2022, reflecting excellent recovery momentum. The largest loss in spend in regional Victoria was noted from interstate travel due to state border closures (-33 per cent or down $522 million compared to the year ending June 2019). In terms of the more recent quarterly results for June 2022, intrastate overnight spend in regional Victoria was well above the corresponding June 2019 quarter (+55 per cent), with interstate overnight spend also higher (+11 per cent).
• Melbourne noted a strong rebound in domestic overnight spend compared to last year during a period of restrictions (+81 per cent to $4.9 billion). Annual domestic overnight spend in Melbourne was back to more than half of its pre-COVID level (55 per cent of the year ending June 2019 results noting a loss of $4.1 billion), reflecting to its higher reliance on interstate visitors and extended restrictions. Notably, the latest June 2022 quarterly results show that both interstate and intrastate overnight spend in Melbourne are above the corresponding pre-COVID-19 June 2019 quarter results, with higher growth noted in interstate spend (+19 per cent) compared to intrastate spend (up one per cent). As such, total domestic overnight spend in the June 2022 quarter was 12 per cent above pre-pandemic June quarter 2019.
• Daytrip spend to/within Victoria was back to 87 per cent of the pre-pandemic year ending June 2019 at $5.4 billion in the year ending June 2022 (-$806 million vs pre-COVID-19), with a higher rate of decline in daytrip spend noted in Melbourne (-22 per cent) compared to regional Victoria (down seven per cent) versus the year ending June 2019.

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

• Victoria's Domestic Tourism Performance Infographic year ending June 2022 (PDF 94.53 KB)
• Domestic visitor and expenditure estimates – year ending June 2022 (XLSX 680.93 KB)

Previous releases:

• Domestic visitor and expenditure estimates year ending March 2022 (XLSX 680.05 KB)
• Domestic visitor and expenditure estimates year ending December 2021 (XLSX 665.17 KB)
• Domestic visitor and expenditure estimates year ending September 2021 (XLSX 1900.44 KB)

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

Next NVS release: year ending September 2022 data in December 2022 (TBC)

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