The broad economic contribution of tourist shopping is well established in tourism, marketing and leisure literature (Silva et al., 2019; Suh & McAvoy, 2005).

Despite a number of studies examining the impact of tourist shopping (for example, Choi et al., 2016; Jin et al., 2017; Timothy, 2014), less is known about the actual dispersal, movement and visitation to shopping precincts by tourists, particularly in towns and cities that are not reliant solely on tourism. Given that retailing is a significant driver of economic prosperity in suburbs, towns and cities (Grimmer, 2021), and retailing in many parts of the world is currently experiencing significant challenges (Mortimer et al., 2020), this study aims to fill gaps in existing knowledge about tourist visitation to retail precincts, within an Australian context.