Number of domestic visitor nights Australia 2023, by accommodation type

Due to Australia’s size and relatively low population density, domestic travel for a holiday, business, or visiting family and friends often involves long hours of driving or a domestic airline flight. Nevertheless, in the year ended December 2023, Australians spent millions of nights away from home on domestic travel trips, with the most popular accommodation type being with friends or relatives. The second most popular choice of accommodation was at a hotel or motel. 

 Holidaying close to home 

With the outbreak of COVID-19 early in 2020, many Australians were forced to cancel international travel plans or look to domestic options for a holiday. Furthermore, many states and territories also imposed border closures, restricting interstate travel as well. New South Wales was the most popular state for domestic travel, boasting popular holiday locations like the Hunter Valley, Mudgee, and the Southern Highlands for wine and food tourism, as well as many popular coastal destinations such as Byron Bay in the north and Jervis Bay on the NSW south coast. Although the state of NSW proved to be a popular destination for domestic tourism, it was the Victorian capital, Melbourne, that was the most popular city to visit in 2018.

The travel budget

Compared to some other popular international tourist destinations for Australians, traveling within Australia is not always the cheapest option for a holiday. Flights across the country can cost as much as a flight to New Zealand, Fiji, or South East Asia and the cost of domestic accommodation, food, and activities is often higher than comparable services in countries where the cost of living is generally lower. Overall, in 2022, domestic visitor expenditure in Australia totaled almost 102 billion Australian dollars.