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Australia

See the latest market data for Australia – including traveller visits and spend, length of stay, behaviours and preferences.

Introduction

Travellers from Australia made 7.1 million outbound visits in 2022, with a total international tourism expenditure of US$16.3 billion.

In 2022, the UK welcomed 722,671 travellers from Australia. During the travellers’ visits, their total expenditure was £1.1 billion, with an average spend of £1,547 per person.

Discover visitor behaviour, travel trade insights, detailed data visualisations for this market – and more. The statistics in this market report are collated from a range of sources such as the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as well as sponsored questions and our own research. For further details, see How we source this information.

Visitor characteristics

  • 62% of holiday visitors (excluding British expats) are making a repeat trip to Britain (within the last ten years).
  • 17% of visits from Australia were made by British nationals in 2019.
  • 85% of departing Australians (excluding British expats) are ‘extremely likely’ to recommend Britain for a visit.
  • Just under a third of the visits from all Australian states to Britain are made by visitors that reside in New South Wales.

Explore the inbound data in full

Use our visualisations to see data from this market in greater depth and clarity. Compare annual statistics, and filter by age group, gender, trip duration and more. It includes seasonality, trip purpose and regional spread of visitors to UK destinations. This data is based on the International Passenger Survey, conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Perceptions of Britain in the Australian market

  • Australians hold an upbeat opinion of Britain as they ranked it fourth overall of 60 nations in the 2022 Anholt Nation Brands Index, gaining one place compared with 2021.

  • Museums, films and music are the cultural products or services that Australians most keenly associate with Britain.

  • Australians expect that a trip to Britain would be ‘educational’, ‘fascinating’ and ‘exciting’.

Global context

Top-level statistics relating to the population, GDP, tourism expenditure and popular destinations for this market. For greater detail on inbound tourism flows from this market to the UK, see our data visualisations.

Measure

2022

International tourism expenditure (US$bn)

16.3

Global rank for international tourism expenditure

17

Number of outbound visits (m)

7.1

Most visited destination

New Zealand

Most visited destination in Western Europe

UK

Key demographic and economic data

Measure

2023

Population (m)

27

GDP per capita PPP (US$)

64,601

Annual average GDP growth over past decade (%)

2.3

Annual GDP growth (%)

1.7

Caring for visitors

  • Meeting the locals is a key part of an Australian’s holiday: they love to chat with local people and learn about the history of the area, recommended pubs and markets, and local stories.

  • All types of accommodation appeal to the Australian market.

  • British pubs provide a unique experience that is not found in Australia.

  • Most Australian visitors arrive by plane very early in the morning, and appreciate early check-in to their room, or at least the opportunity to shower.

The leisure and travel trade

  • Australian consumers continue to display a high usage of ‘bricks and mortar’ retail agencies for purchasing long-haul travel. It is worth noting enquiries come to these not just through foot traffic but also via the travel agencies websites, email enquiries and call centres.

  • Australians tend to book far in advance between 7-12 months out from travel dates: mostly flexible packages, semi-packaged holidays, group tours or a combination of these.

Access to Britain from Australia

The key routes and transport modes that connect this market with the UK.

Measure

2023

Weekly direct departures from Perth to London Heathrow

7

Weekly departing seats to gateway cities which have routes to the UK

259,452

Main gateway hubs en-route from Australia to the UK

Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, Middle East, Americas and Africa

Countries with connecting flights to the UK from Australia

20

  • Australia has a highly complex aviation market, with extensive outbound seat capacity. Australian travellers have a diverse range of options for travelling to the UK, with connecting flights via aviation hubs in Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, the Middle East, the Americas and Africa.

  • The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a 74% reduction in direct seat capacity from Australia to the UK in 2020, and similarly, 2021 was 75% behind. Connectivity has seen extremely strong rebounded growth since COVID-19: in 2022, direct seat capacity was 39% higher than pre-pandemic levels; in 2023, direct seat capacity is equal to pre-pandemic capacity.

  • Departing visitors from Australia travelling home by air are charged £91 in Air Passenger Duty if travelling in economy class.

Further resources

PDF

Australia market profile 2021

Market and Trade Profile for Australia

Download (7.63 MB)
PDF

Australia Market Snapshot 2023

Australia Market Snapshot

Download (390.43 KB)
PDF

Australia Aviation Profile

Outbound travel to the UK from Australia

Download (1.09 MB)
PDF

Australia Experience Seekers Pen Portrait.pdf

Australia Experience Seeker Pen Portrait

Download (662.79 KB)
PDF

Australian COVID sentiment tracker.pdf

View the full findings

Download (481.21 KB)

Where visitors from Australia to the UK reside in their own country

Where visitors to the UK from main markets reside in their country of residence

Download (157.06 KB)
PDF

Australian Buzzseekers report

Australian Buzzseekers’ attitudes towards and image of Britain, and their behaviours when planning and booking mid- and long- haul holidays (including to Britain).

Download (1.15 MB)

How we source this information

We work with a number of data sources to provide a rich and insightful picture of our key inbound source markets. This includes, but is not limited to, data provided by Oxford Economics, the UNWTO, Apex, Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index and from our own surveys and ad-hoc research. The largest share of these data comes from the International Passenger Survey (IPS) by the ONS.

Visit our About the International Passenger Survey page for more information on how this data is collected and analysed. 

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