THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF TOURISM
Tourism in Australia continues to be a driver of growth for the Australian economy, with domestic and international tourism spend totalling $122 billion in 2018-19.
In the financial year 2018–19, Australia generated $60.8 billion in direct tourism gross domestic product (GDP). This represents a growth of 3.5 per cent over the previous year – faster than the national GDP growth. Tourism also directly employed 666,000 Australians making up 5 per cent of Australia’s workforce.
44 cents of every tourism dollar were spent in regional destinations and tourism was Australia’s fourth largest exporting industry, accounting for 8.2 per cent of Australia’s exports earnings.
There are now more than 1.4 billion international travellers globally, spending US$1.5 trillion per year. In 2018-19, 9.3 million international visitors arrived in Australia, an increase of 3.0 per cent compared to the previous year. Australia is currently one of the highest yielding destinations in the world, with international visitors spending $44.6 billion in 2018-19 compared to the previous year, a growth of 5 per cent.
