Sydney Tourism Statistics 2023

Sydney Tourism is showing strong signs of recovery since the pandemic. Home to the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and some of the most beautiful beaches in the country, Sydney remains one of Australia’s most exciting travel destinations.  

We’ve sourced statistics from the NSW Government and Tourism Research Australia to show the current state of tourism in Sydney, and to understand new trends and changes in travel in the financial year ending June 2023.

According to the International Visitor Survey conducted by Tourism Research Australia, in New South Wales, there were 105.4 million domestic and international visitors, who stayed 182.7 million nights and spent $48.6 billion. [1] [3]

In Sydney alone, 35.7 million domestic visitors stayed 30.1 million nights and spent $14.6 billion. [2] [4]

The New South Wales visitor economy is leading Australia’s tourism recovery efforts. The largest national increase of international visitors was recorded in New South Wales in the financial year ending in September 2023. This also included the number of nights spent in Sydney and how much was spent while visiting.

In the financial year ending in June 2023, there were 2.7 million international visitors who stayed overnight in New South Wales. [3]

They stayed 67.8 million nights in New South Wales and the average length of stay was 24.9 days. [3]

In total, international visitors spent $8.6 million on overnight travel and $127 per visitor per night. [3]

There were 10.7 million domestic visitors who travelled to Sydney and stayed overnight. Sydney was also the leading destination for domestic visitors in Australia. [2] [4]

Domestic overnight travellers spent 30.1 million nights in Sydney and the average length of stay was 2.8 nights. [2] [4]

In Sydney, domestic visitors spent $11.1 billion with an average spend of $369 per night and $1,035 per visitor. [2] [4]

About 43% of domestic visitors travelled to New South Wales for holiday. While a further 34.5% travelled to visit friends and relatives. 

35% of NSW travellers visited Sydney to see friends and/or relatives and 31% went to Sydney for holiday. [4]

Nearly 46% of nights in New South Wales were spent on holidays.

There were also 32.7% of nights spent visiting friends and relatives in the state. While nearly 40% of nights were spent seeing friends and/or relatives in Sydney. [4]

The most interstate visitors (38.3%) were from Victoria. This was followed by 34% of visitors from Queensland.

In the financial year ending June 2023, more than 24% of visitors (who stayed overnight) were between 15-29 years old. 

This was also the largest age group to visit Sydney. [4]

More than 30% of domestic tourists travelled to NSW alone. Similarly, 40% of visitors travelled alone to Sydney, followed by 23% of visitors who were adult couples. [4]

Out of these activities, 22.2 million visitors preferred to eat out or dine at restaurants and/or cafes while travelling to NSW. 

And nearly 70% of visitors preferred to dine out while they were visiting Sydney. [4]

Out of these types of accommodation, 40.2 million nights in NSW were spent at a friend’s or relative’s property. 

Amongst those visiting Sydney, 42% of nights were spent in a friend’s or relative’s property. [4]

There were 28.5 million visitors who travelled in a private vehicle or company car while in New South Wales.

According to the National Visitor Survey conducted by Tourism Research Australia, there were 66.5 million visitors who travelled to NSW for the day. These visitors spent $9.7 million on day trips and an average of $146 per day. [3]

There were 24.9 million domestic visitors who travelled to Sydney for a day trip. They spent $3.5 billion on day trips overall and (on average) $142 per visitor to Sydney. [4]

Nearly 50% of visitors spent the day in NSW on ‘holiday’.  

While 45% of visitors were on ‘holiday’ in Sydney, of which 30% also spent the day visiting friends and/or relatives. [4]

Nearly 47% of visitors who travelled to NSW for the day were from Sydney while 98% of visitors who spent the day in Sydney were from Regional NSW. [4]

There were nearly 7% of day trip visitors who travelled to New South Wales from another state.

Nearly a quarter of visitors (who spent a day trip in New South Wales) were between 15-29 years old. This was also the largest age group of visitors to Sydney. [4]

There were 30.2 million visitors who preferred to eat out or dine at restaurants and/or cafes on their day trips to NSW. While only 8.5 million visitors went to the beach.

There were 60.2 million visitors who travelled to New South Wales for the day in a private vehicle or company car.

There were 43% of domestic visitors travelled to New South Wales on holiday. Of those, a third of domestic visitors went on a holiday to Sydney. [4]

By the end of 2024 financial year, the number of domestic holiday nights in New South Wales is forecast to decrease by 2.9% (on average) over the next five years. [5]