3401.0 - Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia, Jun 2015 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 07/08/2015   
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MEDIA RELEASE
7 August 2015
Embargoed: 11.30 am (Canberra time)
87/2015
New Zealanders make record number of visits in 2014-15

New Zealand residents made a record 1.3 million visits to Australia in the 2014-15 financial year, figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show.

"Australia continues to see the most international visitors coming from New Zealand," said Amy Donnelly from the ABS. "This is nothing new however, as New Zealand has provided the most visitors to Australia over the past 10 years.

"Though the top spot has stayed the same, there have been large changes in the number of arrivals from other countries since 2004-05. Short-term arrivals from China have more than tripled over the last ten years to make it the second most common country our visitors come from. Japan meanwhile dropped from third place to seventh after arrivals from there halved.

"The United Kingdom was the third most common country our visitors came from in 2014-15, even though there were 37,300 fewer arrivals from the UK compared with 10 years ago."

The most frequently cited reason for journey to Australia was for a holiday, making up nearly half of all journeys, and the average amount of time people spent in Australia was 11 days.

"New Zealand was also the top destination for Australians travelling overseas. Australians made 1.2 million short-term trips across the Tasman to New Zealand last financial year, over 400,000 more than 10 years ago. Indonesia followed as the second most popular destination for Australians, tripling as a short-term destination for Australians since 2004-05."

Further information can be found in Overseas Arrivals and Departures, June 2015 (Cat. No. 3401.0) available for free from the ABS website https://www.abs.gov.au.

Media note:
  • Please ensure when reporting on ABS data that you attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
  • Media requests and interviews - contact the ABS Communications Section on 1300 175 070.