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Record fall in overseas trips for Australian travellers

Released

15/06/2020

Source

Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia, April 2020

Australia has recorded its largest ever decrease in overseas travel with the number of Australians returning home after a short-term trip down 98.1 per cent on the same time last year, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

With few Australians leaving the country, these decreases, on the back of record falls in March, continue to show the effects of travel restrictions put in place by the Australian government in response to COVID-19.

ABS Director of Migration Statistics Jenny Dobak said 17,000 Australians returned home in April 2020 compared with 916,400 one year earlier.

"Short-term visitor arrivals also fell to 2,200 trips, a 99.7 per cent decrease from the 700,400 recorded in April 2019," Ms Dobak said.

Resident returns ('000) by month - short-term trips(a)
	Resident returns ('000)
Apr-10	561.7
May-10	493.0
Jun-10	517.5
Jul-10	730.9
Aug-10	591.2
Sep-10	629.8
Oct-10	766.1
Nov-10	537.2
Dec-10	464.5
Jan-11	909.4
Feb-11	516.9
Mar-11	514.4
Apr-11	595.2
May-11	605.6
Jun-11	563.2
Jul-11	805.9
Aug-11	636.9
Sep-11	696.0
Oct-11	835.7
Nov-11	584.3
Dec-11	502.4
Jan-12	951.8
Feb-12	577.3
Mar-12	553.1
Apr-12	674.4
May-12	575.6
Jun-12	622.3
Jul-12	853.4
Aug-12	647.9
Sep-12	720.1
Oct-12	877.8
Nov-12	610.4
Dec-12	542.0
Jan-13	999.4
Feb-13	558.8
Mar-13	585.7
Apr-13	709.3
May-13	637.3
Jun-13	659.1
Jul-13	902.2
Aug-13	716.1
Sep-13	775.7
Oct-13	933.7
Nov-13	655.3
Dec-13	577.0
Jan-14	1,098.0
Feb-14	612.8
Mar-14	622.4
Apr-14	751.7
May-14	669.2
Jun-14	672.8
Jul-14	930.6
Aug-14	765.1
Sep-14	808.5
Oct-14	934.7
Nov-14	684.5
Dec-14	588.9
Jan-15	1,150.2
Feb-15	607.3
Mar-15	646.3
Apr-15	763.6
May-15	684.9
Jun-15	697.9
Jul-15	940.5
Aug-15	790.4
Sep-15	834.9
Oct-15	971.3
Nov-15	705.4
Dec-15	627.8
Jan-16	1,209.2
Feb-16	668.1
Mar-16	664.2
Apr-16	812.5
May-16	719.3
Jun-16	721.9
Jul-16	1,024.6
Aug-16	822.3
Sep-16	883.8
Oct-16	1,024.6
Nov-16	738.7
Dec-16	680.6
Jan-17	1,260.4
Feb-17	738.7
Mar-17	690.4
Apr-17	893.9
May-17	776.0
Jun-17	763.2
Jul-17	1,070.7
Aug-17	863.2
Sep-17	946.2
Oct-17	1,078.7
Nov-17	773.1
Dec-17	680.8
Jan-18	1,337.0
Feb-18	709.0
Mar-18	740.7
Apr-18	929.0
May-18	822.2
Jun-18	808.7
Jul-18	1,133.6
Aug-18	916.2
Sep-18	974.0
Oct-18	1,147.8
Nov-18	810.3
Dec-18	732.8
Jan-19	1,392.8
Feb-19	746.1
Mar-19	753.5
Apr-19	916.4
May-19	866.3
Jun-19	842.0
Jul-19	1,122.6
Aug-19	931.0
Sep-19	992.8
Oct-19	1,146.0
Nov-19	849.8
Dec-19	749.7
Jan-20	1,397.4
Feb-20	785.4
Mar-20	538.4
Apr-20	17.0

Resident returns ('000) by month - short-term trips(a)

["","Resident returns"]

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[]

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Short-term trip is less than 1 year.

For residents returning home after a short-term trip, there were decreases of more than 97 per cent across all states and territories.

The state with the largest volume of residents returning was New South Wales with 5,700 trips, however, this was considerably smaller than the 310,700 recorded one year ago.

Residents returning - April 2020 - number returning by state and annual % change

State or Territory of residence		% Change
NSW	5 720	-98.2
Vic.	4 680	-98.2
Qld	3 200	-98.1
SA	800	-97.8
WA	1 970	-98.2
Tas.	170	-97.9
NT	130	-98.3
ACT	380	-97.7
Australia(a)	17 050	-98.1

a. Includes Other Territories.

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

On 16 June, the ABS will publish data from a temporary monthly publication called Overseas Travel Statistics, Provisional, May 2020 (cat. no. 3401.0.55.004). This is part of the additional data the ABS is producing to measure the impacts of COVID-19 on Australia and the second issue will have information for May.

APA

Citation

Record fall in overseas trips for Australian travellers

APA

Citation

Residents returning - April 2020 - number returning by state and annual % change

Media notes

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