New Zealand continued to be the leading destination for Australians travelling overseas, with nearly 1.5 million short-term trips in 2019, according to new data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
ABS Director of Migration Statistics, Jenny Dobak, said that the record annual 11.3 million trips Australians made overseas in 2019 was almost double that of 10 years ago.
“There has been a strong increase of Australian residents travelling overseas over recent years,” she said.
New Zealand was the leading destination country for residents of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory. Indonesia remained in second position with over 1.4 million trips and was the leading destination for those living in South Australia, Western Australian, and the Northern Territory,.
The average duration away for Australians was 14 days. Of the top 10 destination countries, those travelling to the UK stayed away the longest (24 days on average), followed by those travelling to India (23 days). The shortest average days away were for Fiji (7 days) and New Zealand (8 days).
Holiday was the main reason for travel for 57 per cent of Aussies returning home from a short-term trip overseas. Visiting friends and relatives was next at 26 per cent.
| Destination Country | '000 | Average days away |
|---|---|---|
| New Zealand | 1,463 | 8 |
| Indonesia | 1,401 | 9 |
| USA | 1,056 | 16 |
| UK(b) | 663 | 24 |
| China | 608 | 17 |
| Thailand | 543 | 12 |
| Japan | 522 | 14 |
| India | 426 | 23 |
| Singapore | 417 | 8 |
| Fiji | 345 | 7 |
- Top 10 destination countries based on year ending December 2019.
- Includes United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man.
Further details can be found in Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia (cat. no. 3401.0) available on the ABS website https://www.abs.gov.au