International Visitation to the Northern Territory Year ending March 2018
The following is a summary of information relevant to the Northern Territory (NT) tourism industry including visitation results from Tourism Research Australia s International Visitor Survey, overseas and arrivals information from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection and airport traffic data from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics. This report was been prepared by the Strategic Research team in July 2018. Estimates in this report are based on survey data and therefore affected by sampling variation. The table below summarises the samples and Confidence Intervals (CI) for the NT. Sample size International Visitor numbers CI Visitor nights Year ending March 2018 1,844 +/-6% +/-15% Year ending March 2017 1,730 +/-6% +/-15% Please note that the International Visitor Survey (IVS) results for the March quarter 2018 are preliminary and do not include any data relating to purpose of visit. This is because the quality of the main purpose of visit component of the passenger data supplied to TRA by the Department of Home Affairs has been identified as a concern. There are no issues with the survey collection. To produce a purpose of visit measure for the IVS, Tourism Research Australia (TRA) uses data collected from the incoming passenger cards of international visitors to Australia. Work is currently in progress to resolve these issues and it is likely that a back cast of TRA data will be required. TRA will release revised estimates once a solution has been implemented. INTERNATIONAL VISITORS IN THE NORTHERN TERRITORY YEAR ENDING MARCH 2018 VISITORS 287,000 NIGHTS 3.8 MILLION EXPENDITURE $405 MILLION -4.4% -1.9% -12% For more information on the International Visitor Survey methodology please visit Tourism Research Australia s website Disclaimer: The Department of Tourism and Culture has taken due care and skill in preparing this information, however does not warrant that it is correct or suitable for the purpose for which it is intended to be used. The Department disclaims all liability associated with the use of this information.
Summary of the International Market for the Top End and Central Australia There were 134,000 international visitors travelling to the Top End for all purposes in the YE March 2018, which represents a decline of - 7.0% when compared to YE March 2017. Visitor nights for the Top End were also down (-11% to 2.50 million nights) along with spend which went down by -5.6% to $190 million. Given that visitor numbers decreased more relative to spend, the average spend per trip went up slightly by +1.5% to $1,414. The average length of stay, however, was shorter (down -0.9 nights to 18.6 nights). Central Australia, on the other hand, experienced a slight increase in international visitation for all purposes for the YE March 2018 (up +0.5% to 203,000 visitors) and a strong increase in visitor nights (up +22% to 1.3 million nights). This contributed to an increase in the average length of stay (up +1.1 nights to 6.3 nights). Conversely, international visitor spend was lower for Central Australia (down -17% to $216 million), causing the average spend per trip to decrease by - 17% to $1,063. All-purpose visitation from Greater China, France, the United States and the Netherlands was up for the Top End, although all-purpose visitors from the United Kingdom and Germany decreased for the YE March 2018. The markets with the highest growth for Central Australia were Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, and the United Kingdom, with less all-purpose visitors from the United States, Germany and Greater China. Please refer to the Regional Profiles on our corporate site for more information on NT regions. INTERNATIONAL VISITATION SUMMARY FOR THE TOP END All purpose of visit Year ending March 2017 2018 on 17 Visitors 144 134-7.0% Visitor nights 2,811 2,498-11% Expenditure ($ million) 201 190-5.6% Average length of stay (nights) 19.5 18.6-0.9 Average spend per trip ($) 1,393 1,414 1.5% Visitor market share of Australia (%) 1.9 1.6-0.3pp Visitor market share of the NT (%) 48 47-1.3pp INTERNATIONAL VISITATION SUMMARY FOR CENTRAL AUSTRALIA All purpose of visit Year ending March 2017 2018 on 17 Visitors 202 203 0.5% Visitor nights 1,044 1,270 22% Expenditure ($ million) 259 216-17% Average length of stay (nights) 5.2 6.3 1.1 Average spend per trip ($) 1,283 1,063-17% Visitor market share of Australia (%) 2.6 2.4-0.2pp Visitor market share of the NT (%) 67 71 3.4pp
Summary of the International Market for the Northern Territory For the NT overall, there were 287,000 international visitors who travelled to the Territory for all purposes during YE March 2018. This result was a decrease on the previous year of -4.4%. Spend and visitor nights also decreased for the NT when comparted to YE March 2017 (down -12% to $405 million and down -1.9% to 3.8 million visitor nights, respectively). This, in turn, caused the average spend per trip to go down by -7.9% to $1,410. The average length of stay, however, increased (up by +0.3 nights to 13.2 nights) as visitor numbers decreased more relative to visitor nights. The key performing international markets for the NT for the YE March 2018 were Japan (up +13% or 3,000 visitors), Greater China (up +5.9% or 1,000 visitors), France (up +9.9% or 1,500 visitors) and Italy (up +14% or 1,500 visitors). The largest decline came from the United States (down -10% or 4,500 visitors), the United Kingdom (down -9.2% or 4,000 visitors), Germany (down -16% or 5,500 visitors) and New Zealand (down -36% or 6,500 visitors). All jurisdictions with exception of the NT experienced an increase in international visitor numbers for all purposes for YE March 2018. The national average growth for all-purpose visitors was +7.5%, with Tasmania, the ACT and Victoria the strongest contributors to this percentage growth. Accordingly, the Territory s market share dropped by -0.4 percentage points (pp) to 3.5% for international visitors for all purposes. INTERNATIONAL VISITATION SUMMARY FOR THE NORTHERN TERRITORY All purpose of visit Year ending March 2017 2018 on 17 Visitors 301 287-4.4% Visitor nights 3,859 3,784-1.9% Expenditure ($ million) 460 405-12% Average length of stay (nights) 12.8 13.2 0.3 Average spend per trip ($) 1,531 1,410-7.9% Visitor market share (%) 3.9 3.5-0.4pp ALL-PURPOSE VISITATION BY NT OVERSEAS MARKETS
INTERNATIONAL VISITORS BY KEY SOURCE MARKETS TO THE NT AND AUSTRALIA (ALL PURPOSE OF VISIT) Country of residence Rank YE Mar 17 Northern Territory YE Mar 18 % AAGR: Average Annual Growth Rate. Greater China: includes Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China. 3 Year AAGR Market share Rank YE Mar 17 Australia YE Mar 18 % United States of America 1 46.5 41.8-10% -5.8% 8.3% 2 458.2 504.1 10% 7.6% United Kingdom 2 45.3 41.1-9.2% -0.6% 10% 4 399.2 395.1-1.0% 1.6% Germany 3 33.7 28.4-16% -1.6% 20% 6 142.0 141.8-0.1% 2.6% Japan 4 21.3 24.1 13% 4.2% 13% 5 173.5 179.7 3.6% 7.7% Greater China 5 16.5 17.5 5.9% 12% 1.7% 1 898.8 1,026.5 14% 8.5% France 6 14.2 15.6 9.9% -4.3% 19% 8 79.5 81.4 2.4% 0.4% Italy 7 10.8 12.3 14% 0.1% 27% 10 44.6 46.1 3.5% 3.6% New Zealand 8 18.1 11.6-36% -10% 2.6% 3 452.4 453.9 0.3% 0.5% Scandinavia 9 9.9 9.5-4.1% 16% 12% 9 69.9 76.8 9.8% 6.0% Switzerland 10 9.1 9.2 0.3% 0.1% 26% 12 35.5 35.8 0.7% -0.5% Canada 12 11.9 6.3-47% -6.9% 5.9% 7 96.0 106.4 11% 5.5% Netherlands 11 6.8 7.6 13% 2.4% 21% 11 33.8 36.4 7.7% 9.3% Other Europe 23.8 21.1-11% 1.4% 14% 148.2 150.3 1.5% 4.4% Other Asia 23.0 30.1 31% 12% 3.3% 819.5 917.1 12% 8.1% Other Countries 9.8 11.3 15% 6.0% 4.0% 252.3 280.2 11% 6.9% Total 300.7 287.4-4.4% 0.5% 6.5% 4,103.2 4,431.6 8.0% 5.9% 3 Year AAGR INTERNATIONAL ALL-PURPOSE VISITATION TREND TO THE NT INTERNATIONAL VISITOR EXPENDITURE TREND TO THE NT INTERNATIONAL VISITOR AVERAGE LENGTH OF STAY TREND TO THE NT
AGE GROUPS NT ALL-PURPOSE VISITORS ALL-PURPOSE SOURCE MARKET SUMMARY *Caution required when interpreting results due to low sample (<40) INTERNATIONAL MARKETS TO THE NT KEY STATS YE Mar 2018 Nights Expenditure ($M) ALOS (nights) Average spend per visitor ($) Average spend per night ($) United States of America 259 53 6.2 1,270 205 United Kingdom 424 48 10.3 1,167 113 Germany 295 35 10.4 1,240 119 Japan 171 25 7.1 1,038 146 Greater China 328 37 18.8 2,111 112 New Zealand 124 19 10.7 1,597 150 France 243 21 15.6 1,364 88 Italy 115 15 9.4 1,193 127 Canada 63 8 10.1 1,342 133 Scandinavia 85 14 8.9 1,485 167 Switzerland 74 17 8.1 1,868 230 Netherlands 80 9 10.4 1,209 116 ALOS - Average length of stay 15-29 years 30-39 years 40-49 years 50-64 years 65+ years
International Visitor Numbers and Spend by State MONTHLY MOVEMENT THROUGH THE DARWIN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Excerpt from TRA s International Visitor Survey Summary Source: Department of Immigration and Border Protection TRAFFIC ON BOARD INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES City of arrival for international all-purpose visitors to the Northern Territory 17% of all-purpose visitors to the Northern Territory entered Australia through the Darwin International Airport Source: Bureau of infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics