Melbourne Tourism Statistics 2023

Have you ever wondered how many tourists visit Melbourne each year? We're here to give you some insight.

Whether you like to watch live music, go to sporting events or just enjoy the unbeatable coffee culture, there's no denying Victoria is a popular destination for tourists all around the world.

With so much to do, you can choose to enjoy the renowned cafes, food and bars in the city hubs of Melbourne and St Kilda, or explore the Great Ocean Road and the southernmost tip of the Australian mainland in regional Victoria.

So, to better understand where both international and domestic visitors are travelling around Victoria, Budget Direct has gathered official data on one of the busiest destinations in Australia. Find out more from our deep dive below.

Victoria was Australia's second most visited destination for holidaying international travellers in the 2022/23 financial year, behind New South Wales.

Of all the short-term international visitors to Australia in that financial year, a quarter said they intended to stay in Victoria on arrival. [1]

• $5.6 billion spent by overnight international visitors in Victoria in the year ending September 2023

• 1.9 million international overnight visitors in Victoria in the year ending September 2023

• 44.8 million nights spent by international visitors in Victoria in the year ending September 2023 [2]

The international tourism industry in Victoria has seen a large year-on-year increase across the board. Compared to results in the year ending September 2022, Victoria has seen a:

• 126% increase in international overnight spend

• 198% increase in international visitors

• 79% increase in nights spent by international visitors [2]

In Melbourne, annual international visitor spending was up 77% in the year to August 2023. In that same year, international visitors were mostly spending their money on:

• Dining and entertainment - $27.3 million

• Specialised and luxury goods - $11.5 million [3]

In the year ending September 2023, Melbourne had the largest domestic tourism spend when broken down by regions in Australia, hitting a total of just under $12 billion.

This was despite having fewer visitors in that year than Sydney, which was the top-visited region in the country. [4]

• $22.5 billion spent by domestic visitors in Victoria in the year ending September 2023

• 28.0 million domestic visitors to Victoria in the year ending September 2023

• 82.1 million nights spent by domestic visitors in Victoria in the year ending September 2023 [5]

Almost half of the total domestic spend was made up of those travelling on holiday, while the rest was almost evenly split by those travelling to visit friends and relatives, those travelling for business and those travelling for all other reasons. [5]

Meanwhile, Victorian locals appear to be the ones spending the most on domestic tourism in their state with those from Melbourne and regional Victoria topping the list of overnight spending. [5]

Despite there being almost double the number of overnight visitors to regional Victoria in the year ending September 2023, there was around $1 billion more spent by domestic visitors in Melbourne in the same period. [6]

With 262 days in lockdown over the peak of the pandemic, Melbourne experienced what was later known as the world's longest lockdown. [7]

This meant that both international and domestic tourism, in what was once one of Australia's busiest cities, came to a standstill.

In December 2019, just before Australia's first major wave of COVID-19, there were more than 100 million visitors to Victoria in total. Just over a year later, this figure plummeted to less than half that with 46.5 million total visitors to Victoria in March 2021.

Now, in the year to September 2023, the total number of visitors to Victoria has risen to 90.3 million, which is a 20% increase year-on-year but still 7% less than pre-pandemic levels in the year to September 2019. [8]