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Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia

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Statistics on international travel arriving in and departing from Australia. The main focus is on short-term trips (less than 1 year).

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Reference period
May 2021
Released
13/07/2021
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Key statistics

  • All arrivals to Australia for May 2021: 114,520, a monthly increase of 60,620 trips
  • All departures: 107,230, a monthly increase of 43,310 trips
  • There were 36,190 short-term visitor arrivals, 79% were from New Zealand
  • There were 62,360 short-term resident returns, 89% were from New Zealand
1.1 Monthly change - Original estimates
Apr 2021 (no.)May 2021 (no.)Apr 2021 to May 2021 (% change)
All arrivals(a)53,910114,520112.5
All departures(a)63,920107,23067.8
Visitor arrivals - short-term trips22,61036,19060.1
Resident returns - short-term trips16,99062,360267.1

(a) Includes permanent, short- and long-term trips.
Note: Volumes remain low compared with pre-COVID levels.

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.

Migration Statistics

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

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

Visitor arrivals

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).

Key findings

For visitor arrivals to Australia:

  • A total of 36,190 short-term trips were recorded, an increase of 32,750 compared with the corresponding month of the previous year.
  • May 2021 trips decreased 94.6% when compared with pre-COVID levels in May 2019.
  • New Zealand was the largest source country, accounting for 78.8% of all visitor arrivals.

Source countries

The three leading source countries where visitors came from were:

  • New Zealand (28,510 trips)
  • The USA (970)
  • The UK (860).

Details

State or territory of stay

All travellers are asked their intended address in Australia upon arrival. Visitor arrivals were at least 92% lower than the pre-COVID levels of May 2019 across all states and territories.

Details

Resident returns

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).

Key findings

For residents returning from overseas:

  • A total of 62,360 short-term trips were recorded, an increase of 48,980 compared with the corresponding month of the previous year.
  • May 2021 trips decreased 92.8% when compared with pre-COVID levels in May 2019.
  • New Zealand was the most popular destination country, accounting for 88.9% of all resident returns.

Destination countries

The three leading destination countries residents returned from were:

  • New Zealand (55,440 trips)
  • The USA (810)
  • India (510).

Details

State or territory of residence

All travellers are asked their intended address in Australia upon arrival.  Resident returns were at least 88% lower than the pre-COVID levels of April 2019 across all states and territories.

Details

Arrivals - state and territory

Compares international visitor arrivals each month by source country for each state and territory. The additional information is being provided during the COVID-19 pandemic. 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 for each state and territory and nationally. It includes both those whose intended duration is short-term (less than 1 year) or long-term (1 year or more). The additional information is being provided during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Australia

New South Wales

Victoria

Queensland

South Australia

Western Australia

Tasmania

Northern Territory

Australian Capital Territory

Visitor arrivals - Calendar year - 2020

Compares annual international travel arrivals over time by source country, by state and territory, by age and sex, by main reason for journey and by median duration of trip. All analysis in this section is done on short-term trips (less than 1 year).

Effects of COVID-19 outbreak

The World Health Organisation (WHO) commenced daily situation reports of the COVID-19 outbreak on 21 January 2020 and identified it as an international health emergency on 30 January. This was less than a month after suspected cases were reported in Wuhan, China. Initially the Australian Government placed travel restrictions on those travelling to Australia from mainland China commencing 1 February 2020. Restrictions on other countries soon followed. From 20 March 2020, all overseas travel was banned, with few exceptions. The pandemic has continued to disrupt international travel. For more information, see the Prime Minister's media release on border restrictions or the Smartraveller page from the Australian government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website.

Key findings

Note: 97% of visitor arrivals in 2020 occurred prior to travel restrictions implemented by the Australian Government on 20 March 2020.

Visitors arriving in Australia in 2020.

  • There were 1.8 million visitor arrivals, down 80.7% on the previous year and the lowest since 1987
  • New Zealand was the largest source country, accounting for 242,500 visitors nationally
  • There were more visits by women than men. Ten years earlier, the opposite was true
  • The main reason for travel was 'holiday' (43.2%)
  • Nationally, the median duration of stay in Australia was 14 days.

Annual visitor arrivals

Source countries

State or territory of stay

Age and sex

Main reason for journey

Duration of stay

Resident returns - Calendar year - 2020

Compares annual international travel for resident returns over time by destination country, by state and territory, by age and sex, by main reason for journey and by median duration of trip. All analysis in this section is done on short-term trips (less than 1 year).

Effects of COVID-19 outbreak

The World Health Organisation (WHO) commenced daily situation reports of the COVID-19 outbreak on 21 January 2020 and identified it as an international health emergency on 30 January. This was less than a month after suspected cases were reported in Wuhan, China. Initially the Australian Government placed travel restrictions on those travelling to Australia from mainland China commencing 1 February 2020. Restrictions on other countries soon followed. From 20 March 2020, all overseas travel was banned, with few exceptions. The pandemic has continued to disrupt international travel. For more information, see the Prime Minister's media release on border restrictions or the Smartraveller page from the Australian government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website.

Key findings

Note: 92% of resident returns in 2020 occurred prior to travel restrictions implemented by the Australian Government on 20 March 2020.

Australian residents returning to Australia in 2020.

  • There were 2.8 million resident returns from overseas, down 75.0% on the previous year and the lowest since 1996 
  • New Zealand continued to be the leading destination country for Australians travelling overseas, accounting for 438,700 visitors nationally
  • The main reason for travel was 'holiday' (53.3%)
  • Nationally, the median duration away was 17 days.

Annual resident returns

Destination countries

State or territory of residence

Age and sex

Main reason for journey

Duration of stay

Recent changes

Inclusion of statistics on total arrivals and departures

From May 2021 statistics on total arrivals and departures will be included in the Key Statistics section in response to changed travel behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic. These statistics have always been available in Tables 1 and 2 in the Data Downloads section.

COVID-19 from Feb 2020

In response to the need for additional data and analysis due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ABS will continue to release a series of feature articles containing additional state and territory level analysis of overseas visitor arrivals over the coming months, as well as national and state and territory information on arrivals of overseas students. See the left hand navigation pane to access information on a specific state/territory or article.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) commenced daily situation reports of the COVID-19 outbreak on 21 January 2020 and identified it as an international health emergency on 30 January. This was less than a month after suspected cases were reported in Wuhan, China. The Australian Government placed travel restrictions on those travelling to Australia initially from mainland China commencing 1 February 2020. Restrictions on other countries soon followed. From 20 March 2020, all overseas travel was banned, with few exceptions. For more information, see the Prime Minister's media release on border restrictions or the Smartraveller page from the Australian government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website.

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.

Inquiries

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Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 3401.0

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ABS.Stat datasets

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Short-term Movement, Visitors Arriving and Residents Returning - Intended Length of Stay and Main Reason for Journey: Original

Short-term Movement, Visitors Arriving and Residents Returning - Selected Countries of Residence/Destinations: Original

Methodology

Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia methodology, May 2021