Tourism

Data about the tourism sector is available under Economic and Business Information.

Tourism is the principal driver of the Shire’s economy. Tourism expenditure is estimated to have been $354 million in 2007.
Employment arising from that expenditure is estimated to be around 2,500 FTE jobs.
Tourism impacts all economic sectors in the economy, notably retail, accommodations, cafes and restaurants and construction.
85% of tourists arrive in the region by road with only a small percentage arriving by air.
In 2007, the estimated 500,000 domestic overnight visitors stayed an average of 3.9 nights while the 182,000 international overnight visitors stayed an average of 6.7 nights.
In 2007, 418,000 day-trippers are estimated to have visited the Shire.
The number of visitor nights in Byron Shire in 2007 is estimated to be 3.15 million. Averaged over the year, that is equivalent to an increase in resident population of 23%.

Council actively supports the Farm and Nature Tourism program initiated by Australian Regional Tourism Research Centre.