Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia

Latest release

Statistics on international travel arriving in and departing from Australia.

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Reference period
August 2024
Released
15/10/2024
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    Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia, September 2024
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    Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia, October 2024
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    Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia, November 2024
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Key statistics

In August 2024:

  • Short-term visitor arrivals: 658,810 – an increase of 9.2% on one year earlier
  • Short-term resident returns: 916,890 – an increase of 6.8% on one year earlier
  • Total arrivals: 1,656,470 – an increase of 7.2% on one year earlier
  • Total departures: 1,694,440 – an increase of 11.7% on one year earlier

These statistics report on the number of international border crossings rather than the number of people. Most data in this release are rounded to the nearest 10. As a result, sums of components may not add exactly to totals.

Overseas Migration Statistics

This release presents statistics on all overseas arrivals and departures, which is not the same as overseas migration statistics.

If you are looking for ABS statistics on overseas migration, please refer to:

Arrivals and departures

  1. Provisional data for the most recent month has not had the full quality assurance methods applied as is done for the earlier months. Provisional data will be revised in the next issue of this publication.
  1. Provisional data for the most recent month has not had the full quality assurance methods applied as is done for the earlier months. Provisional data will be revised in the next issue of this publication.
  1. Provisional data for the most recent month has not had the full quality assurance methods applied as is done for the earlier months. Provisional estimates will be revised in the next issue of this publication.
1.4 Arrivals and departures by category of travel - selected months(a)(b)
Category of travelAug 2019
(no.)		Aug 2022
(no.)		Aug 2023
(no.)		Aug 2024
(no.)		Aug 2023 to
 Aug 2024 change (%)
Permanent arrivals9,6609,70013,23012,490-5.6
Long-term resident returns11,88014,50012,08011,350-6.1
Short-term resident returns930,970607,950858,540916,8906.8
Long-term visitor arrivals40,96047,11057,49056,940-1.0
Short-term visitor arrivals789,200348,440603,360658,8109.2
Total arrivals1,782,6701,027,7001,544,7001,656,4707.2
Long-term resident departures26,46021,68027,04031,62016.9
Short-term resident departures958,520608,190866,380948,5009.5
Long-term visitor departures17,62029,35021,50025,37018.0
Short-term visitor departures807,070283,000601,580688,95014.5
Total departures1,809,670942,2101,516,5001,694,44011.7
  1. For further information about categories of travel, see the Glossary section of the Methodology page.
  2. Category of travel data is not available from provisional estimates.

Visitor arrivals - short-term

Compares international visitor arrivals each month by source country and change at the state and territory level. Analysis in this section is undertaken on short-term trips (less than 1 year).

For visitor arrivals to Australia in August 2024:

  • A total of 658,810 short-term trips were recorded, an increase of 55,450 compared with the corresponding month of the previous year.
  • The number of trips was 16.5% lower than the pre-COVID level in August 2019.
  • New Zealand was the largest source country, accounting for 17% of all visitor arrivals.

Countries where visitors came from

The three leading source countries where visitors came from were:

  • New Zealand (112,780 trips)
  • China (78,550)
  • Japan (54,420).

Details

State or territory of stay

All travellers are asked their intended address in Australia upon arrival. For August 2024, the highest number of visitor arrivals for short-term trips was observed for New South Wales (240,840), whilst Tasmania recorded the fewest (4,550).

2.3 Short-term visitor arrivals, state or territory of stay - August 2024

This map presents the number of short-term visitor arrivals in Australia in August 2024, by their state of intended stay.

2.4 Short-term visitor arrivals, state or territory of stay
State or territory of stayAug 2019 (no.)Aug 2022 (no.)Aug 2023 (no.)Aug 2024 (no.)Aug 2023 to Aug 2024 change (%)
NSW282,800120,860230,460240,8404.5
Vic.196,97087,330146,660153,4804.7
Qld194,20082,700141,410164,98016.7
SA19,45010,39014,86017,49017.7
WA72,99034,38054,24063,79017.6
Tas.5,9502,7304,1404,5509.8
NT8,8205,5604,9605,0501.9
ACT8,0004,4606,6408,61029.8
Australia(a)789,200348,440603,360658,8109.2
  1. Includes Other Territories.

Visitor arrivals - state and territory

Compares international visitor arrivals each month by source country for each state and territory. Analyses in this section are undertaken on short-term trips (less than 1 year) unless otherwise stated.

New South Wales

Victoria

Queensland

South Australia

Western Australia

Tasmania

Northern Territory

Australian Capital Territory

Arrivals - international students

Compares international student arrivals each month by visa type.

  • In August 2024 there were 46,620 international student arrivals to Australia, a decrease of 2,150 students compared with the corresponding month of the previous year.
  • The number of student arrivals in August 2024 was 15.2% lower than the pre-COVID levels in August 2019.
  1. International student visa holders whether it be for a short-term (less than 1 year) or long-term (1 year or more) duration. This is not the same as when a traveller self reports 'education' as their main reason for journey.
  2. English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students.

Resident returns - short-term

Compares international resident returns each month by destination country and change at the state and territory level. Analysis in this section is undertaken on short-term trips (less than 1 year).

For residents returning from overseas in August 2024:

  • A total of 916,890 short-term trips were recorded, an increase of 58,350 compared with the corresponding month of the previous year.
  • The number of trips was 1.5% lower than the pre-COVID level in August 2019.
  • Indonesia was the most popular destination country, accounting for 17% of all resident returns.

Destination countries

The three leading destination countries residents returned from were:

  • Indonesia (158,730 trips)
  • New Zealand (106,450)
  • The UK (62,930).

Details

State or territory of residence

All travellers are asked their intended address in Australia upon arrival. For August 2024, the highest number of resident returns from short-term trips was observed for New South Wales (293,960), whilst the Northern Territory recorded the fewest (5,840).

12.3 Short-term resident returns, state or territory of residence - August 2024

This map presents the number of short-term resident returns in Australia in August 2024, by their state of intended residence.

12.4 Short-term resident returns, state or territory of residence
State or territory of residenceAug 2019 (no.)Aug 2022 (no.)Aug 2023 (no.)Aug 2024 (no.)Aug 2023 to Aug 2024 change (%)
NSW310,460212,700278,730293,9605.5
Vic.260,990174,030249,090259,6204.2
Qld154,380102,550145,260164,10013.0
SA49,13025,38043,75044,8302.5
WA119,11072,010111,310119,5007.4
Tas.11,5706,41010,76010,560-1.9
NT7,8903,7605,0905,84014.7
ACT17,32011,03014,51018,27025.9
Australia(a)930,970607,950858,540916,8906.8
  1. Includes Other Territories.

Data downloads

Notes

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Time series spreadsheets

Data files

Data Explorer datasets

Two Overseas Arrivals and Departures datasets are available in Data Explorer.

1. Visitor arrivals and resident returns, Selected Countries of Residence/Destinations

2. Visitor arrivals and resident returns, Intended Length of Stay and Main Reason for Journey

Caution: Data in Data Explorer is currently released after the 11:30am release on the ABS website. Please check the reference period when using Data Explorer.

For information on Data Explorer and how it works, see the Data Explorer user guide.

Data notes

This release contains overseas movement data which should not be interpreted as 'persons'. See the Scope section, paragraph 1 in the Methodology for more detail.

The statistics in this release have been rounded. See the Confidentiality section in the Methodology for more detail.

Enquiries

For enquiries about these and related statistics, contact the Customer Assistance Service via the ABS website Contact Us page. The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS will handle any personal information that you provide to the ABS.

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 3401.0.

Article archive

Overseas arrivals and departures, Australia - 2023-24 financial year

Methodology

Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia methodology, August 2024