Australian retailers are poised for a strong Lunar New Year trading season, following a double-digit surge in visitors last year.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data reveals the significant impact cultural events such as Lunar New Year have on the NSW visitor economy, with a notable peak in visitation from China in January 2025.
There were 272,580 short-term visitor arrivals to NSW in January 2025, an increase of 31,940 (13.3 per cent) compared to January 2024.
Industry estimates from Sydney’s Lunar New Year celebrations project food and retail sales alone to exceed $90 million in the city, with broader tourism revenue linked to Lunar New Year potentially approaching around $2 billion during peak celebration periods, including international visitor spend.
China was the leading source country for visitors to NSW in January 2025 with 48,150 trips, up from 30,540 in January 2024.
The second leading source of visitors to NSW in January 2025 was the United States (37,920), followed by South Korea (27,080).
In December 2024 the three leading source countries for visitors to NSW were the United States (48,060 trips), the United Kingdom (39,170) and New Zealand (38,920). China followed in fourth place with 28,320 arrivals.
The Lunar New Year festival, which ran from 29 January to 12 February 2025, is the world's busiest travel period.
Sydney is home to one of the largest Lunar New Year celebrations in the Asia Pacific, with ABS data showing North and Southeast Asian visitation to NSW also skyrocketed during last year’s festival, which ran from 10-25 February 2024.
Arrivals almost doubled from most North and Southeast Asian markets in February 2024 compared to January 2024.
Tourist arrivals from mainland China rose 115 per cent in February compared to January, while visitors from Hong Kong jumped 158 per cent over the same period. Vietnamese holidaymakers recorded a 377 per cent increase, and arrivals from Singapore were up 101 per cent.
South Korean visitors surged to 142 per cent of February 2019 levels, with the visiting friends and family segment rising 105 per cent, while Vietnamese arrivals reached 139 per cent of February 2019 levels, with friends and family visits up 163 per cent.
Analysts say rising demand for international travel has been fuelled in part by China’s State Council extending the Lunar New Year holiday to eight days.
Sydney Airport expected to welcome more than 501,000 passengers from greater China during the peak January through February Lunar New Year period, with the airport receiving 97 return flights per week from mainland China and 137 return flights per week from greater China.
In December 2024, Juneyao Air became the ninth China-based carrier to touch down at Sydney Airport thanks to Destination NSW’s Aviation Attraction Fund. Juneyao Air initially operated four direct services a week from Shanghai to Sydney, rising to daily during the Lunar New Year period.
Destination NSW CEO Karen Jones said she works closely with airline and trade partners in North and Southeast Asia to promote visitation to Sydney and regional NSW.
“Integrated partnership marketing programs have been developed for our priority markets, with more than 50 partnership campaigns expected to be delivered during FY24-25 to drive visitation and expenditure to NSW.
“Destination NSW also provides training, seminars, workshops, familiarisation visits and an annual Focus on North Asia trade event to assist visitor economy businesses to engage with these markets.”