COVID-19 travel restrictions saw a 99 per cent decrease in overseas arrivals to Australia in April 2020, compared with April 2019 according to provisional data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
ABS Director of Migration Statistics, Jenny Dobak, said of the nearly 22,000 arrivals to Australia in April, more than two thirds (15,000) were Australian citizens returning from overseas with just under 7,000 arrivals from non-Australian citizens.
April's decreases in arrivals and departures were the continuation of a downward trend seen in recent months and comes on top of the record decrease reported for the month of March in Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia (cat. no. 3401.0) released yesterday. These large decreases reflect the travel restrictions progressively put in place by the Australian Government from the beginning of February due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
Ms Dobak, said large decreases in arrivals from non-Australian citizens was also seen from regions across the world.
"In April there were just under 7,000 arrivals from non-Australian citizens. This was a 99% decrease from the same time last year," she said