Austrade leads work to support the sustainable growth and prosperity of Australia’s visitor economy.
We do this by:
The visitor economy covers all visitors who travel to and within Australia. This can be for reasons such as:
A wide range of sectors provide goods and services to visitors including:
We manage the national long-term strategy for the visitor economy, THRIVE 2030 – an industry-led, government-enabled strategy. It provides an action plan to rebuild and grow the sector.
The visitor economy was Australia’s fourth-largest export sector before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, the sector:
COVID-19 compounded pre-existing challenges facing the visitor economy. THRIVE 2030 seeks to address these challenges and set out a long-term vision.
To help grow businesses in the visitor economy, we administer a range of export and tourism grants.
We support First Nations businesses in global trade and investment, and in tourism. Find out how we support First Nations businesses.
The China Approved Destination Status (ADS) scheme allows Chinese tourists to travel to Australia in guided groups. We manage the scheme in Australia with the Department of Home Affairs and Tourism Australia.
We provide statistics and research to assist the government, the visitor economy and Australian businesses. Find out more at Tourism Research Australia.
Australian and state and territory government tourism ministers regularly hold meetings to work together on:
The ministers are supported by the Australian Standing Committee on Tourism (ASCOT). Austrade leads ASCOT.
Read about the latest Tourism Ministers' Meeting, 24 November 2023.
We consult with visitor economy stakeholders to develop strategies and to inform our work. We invite industry feedback to the International Diversification Strategy for Australia's Visitor Economy - consultation.