Prior to the pandemic, tourism was Australia's second largest service export, and employed one in twelve Australians. In 2018/19, our tourism sector contributed $152 billion to our economy, supported more than 300,000 businesses, and employed more than 660,000 Australians. There is no denying that Australia’s tourism industry is integral to Australia’s economy and social fabric.

With so much change in the tourism category over the past several years, this research is very timely. It has been designed to support Australia’s tourism industry, across its many facets, to make decisions about where demand exists and ways to maximise the opportunities in this critical period of recovery.

Most tourism businesses are either sole traders or have a small team. Recognising the lean nature of many tourism businesses, we have endeavoured to provide a high level of insights across all sectors. As a result, the nature and scope of this research is quite complex as we have endeavoured to deliver as much richness as possible. The research covers 143 experiences across 20 markets and four target audiences: the High Yielding Traveller, Premium, Working Holiday Makers, and a more generic Long Stay audience.  There were also three deep dive sections covering sustainable travel, Indigenous insights, and accessible travel.

This research was delivered with the support of state and territory tourism organisations and tourism industry operators from across Australia and our key markets. On behalf of the Tourism Australia team, our sincere thanks for your support and contribution to this work.

We sincerely hope that the insights in this research assist Australia’s tourism industry to be even more competitive on the world stage than ever before.