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Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia

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Statistics on international travel arriving in and departing from Australia.

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Reference period
May 2023
Released
12/07/2023
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Key statistics

In May 2023:

  • Short-term visitor arrivals: 512,330 – an annual increase of 280,840 trips
  • Short-term resident returns: 707,440 – an annual increase of 346,830 trips
  • Total arrivals: 1,296,710 – an annual increase of 646,180 
  • Total departures: 1,359,250 – an annual increase of 699,390

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.

Provisional Estimates

To provide more timely travel data in response to COVID-19, provisional estimates for total overseas arrivals and total overseas departures are included in Graphs 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3. Additional provisional data are available under the Data downloads for State of clearance (Table 13), Country of citizenship (Table 14), and Visa group (Table 15). No further breakdowns of provisional data are available, other than those which appear in this release.

  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 - monthly change(a)
Category of travelMay 2019
(no.)		May 2022
(no.)		Apr 2023
(no.)		May 2023
(no.)		Apr 2023 to
May 2023 change
Total arrivals1,587,870650,5201,370,4701,296,710-73,760
    Permanent arrivals(b)9,6908,61011,82012,220400
    Australian resident returns(c)
        long-term9,50014,76011,3009,890-1,410
        short-term866,280360,610750,170707,440-42,730
    Overseas visitor arrivals(d)
        long-term34,13035,07052,27054,8302,560
        short-term668,280231,480544,920512,330-32,590
Total departures1,632,790659,8601,425,1501,359,250-65,900
    Australian resident departures(c)
        long-term20,86017,61028,33022,050-6,270
        short-term932,410420,110854,860830,750-24,110
    Overseas visitor departures(d)
        long-term16,92034,08025,17023,580-1,590
        short-term662,600188,070516,800482,870-33,930
  1. Category of travel data is not available from provisional estimates.
  2. Permanent arrivals (settlers) comprise: travellers who hold permanent visas, New Zealand citizens who indicate on their passenger card an intention to migrate permanently, and those who are otherwise identified as eligible to settle.
  3. Australian resident includes Australian citizens, permanent visa holders residing in Australia, and any New Zealand citizens who can be identified as a resident.
  4. An overseas visitor is any traveller arriving to, or departing from, Australia who is not an Australian resident.

Note: Long-term are travellers who have been away or in Australia for 12 months or more. Short-term are travellers who have been away or in Australia for less than 12 months.

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:

  • A total of 512,330 short-term trips were recorded, an increase of 280,840 compared with the corresponding month of the previous year.
  • The number of trips for May 2023 was 23.3% lower than the pre-COVID level in May 2019.
  • New Zealand was the largest source country, accounting for 19% of all visitor arrivals.

Countries where visitors came from

The three leading source countries where visitors came from were:

  • New Zealand (98,290 trips)
  • The USA (42,380)
  • India (41,230).

Details

State or territory of stay

All travellers are asked their intended address in Australia upon arrival. For May 2023, the highest number of visitor arrivals for short-term trips was observed for New South Wales (189,420), whilst Tasmania recorded the fewest (3,740).

2.3 Short-term visitor arrivals, state or territory of stay - May 2023

This map presents the number of short-term visitor arrivals in Australia in May 2023, by their state of intended stay.

- New South Wales (189,420)
- Victoria (138,830)
- Queensland (104,520)
- South Australia (15,840)
- Western Australia (49,460)
- Tasmania (3,740)
- Northern Territory (3,860)
- Australian Capital Territory (6,620).

Details

Visitor arrivals - short-term - 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

Visitor arrivals - short-term - calendar year 2022

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

For the most recent analysis by financial year, see the June 2022 issue of Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia.

For visitors arriving in Australia in 2022:

  • There were 3,694,380 visitor arrivals, more than 15 times the previous year
  • New Zealand was the largest source country, accounting for 18.9% of visitors
  • The most popular reason for travel was 'visiting friends/relatives' (47.8%)
  • The median duration of stay in Australia was 18 days, down from 30 days in 2021.

Annual visitor arrivals

Countries where visitors came from

State or territory of stay

Age and sex

Main reason for journey

Duration of stay

Arrivals - international students

Compares international student arrivals each month by visa type.

  • In May 2023 there were 43,950 international student arrivals to Australia, an increase of 19,200 students compared with the corresponding month of the previous year.
  • The number of student arrivals in May 2023 was 28.3% higher than the pre-COVID levels in May 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:

  • A total of 707,440 short-term trips were recorded, an increase of 346,830 compared with the corresponding month of the previous year.
  • The number of trips for May 2023 was 18.3% lower than the pre-COVID level in May 2019.
  • Indonesia was the most popular destination country, accounting for 15% of all resident returns.
     

Destination countries

The three leading destination countries residents returned from were:

  • Indonesia (107,810 trips)
  • New Zealand (72,990)
  • The USA (57,290).

Details

State or territory of residence

All travellers are asked their intended address in Australia upon arrival. For May 2023, the highest number of resident returns from short-term trips was observed for New South Wales (234,560), whilst the Northern Territory recorded the fewest (4,690).

13.3 Short-term resident returns, state or territory of residence - May 2023

This map presents the number of short-term resident returns in Australia in May 2023, by their state of intended residence.

- New South Wales (234,560)
- Victoria (195,480)
- Queensland (130,390)
- South Australia (33,870)
- Western Australia (88,870)
- Tasmania (6,530)
- Northern Territory (4,690)
- Australian Capital Territory (13,000).

Details

Resident returns - short-term - calendar year 2022

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

For the most recent analysis by financial year, see the June 2022 issue of Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia.

For Australian residents returning to Australia in 2022:

  • There were 5,225,640 resident returns from overseas, more than 17 times the previous year
  • New Zealand continued to be the leading destination country for Australians travelling overseas, accounting for 707,990 trips
  • The most popular reason for travel was 'holiday' (47.8%)
  • The median duration of trips away was 16 days, down from 17 days in 2021.

Annual resident returns

Destination countries

State or territory of residence

Age and sex

Main reason for journey

Duration of stay

Recent changes

July 2007 to June 2017 data revised

In April 2023, the ABS identified a data quality issue with the visa group for “Other Visas” being unusually high. The issue was identified as being due to a processing issue which prevented some arrivals records from having their correct visa subclass and state of clearance counted.  To fix this issue, the ABS has reprocessed the affected records.

Revised Overseas Arrivals and Departures data from September 2007 to August 2015 was released in the March 2023 issue. The time series spreadsheets for Tables 13, 15 and 16 were revised.

A second group of affected records spanning July 2007 to June 2017 was revised and released in the April 2023 issue. The time series spreadsheets for Tables 13, 15 and 16 were revised. This information can also be found in the Methodology page, in the History of changes section for the year 2007.

Total departures - state of residence/stay by visa group added to Data downloads section

A new time series spreadsheet: “Table 17: Total departures - state of residence/stay by visa group” has been added. This download contains time series data on departures by state of residence/stay by visa group, including data for the individual types of international student arrivals. This can be found in the Data downloads section of this publication.

All instances of the country formerly known as Turkey have been updated to Türkiye

From 16/2/2023 all instances of the country formerly known as Turkey have been updated to Türkiye to align with an update to the Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC).

Data downloads

I-notes

Download all (2.93 MB)

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

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:

Post release changes

13/07/2023 - A post release correction was applied to the 'Arrivals - international students' section. It previously stated that student arrivals in May 2023 were lower than the pre-COVID levels in May 2019. May 2023 had more student arrivals than May 2019 so this has been corrected to read “The number of student arrivals in May 2023 was 28.3% higher than the pre-COVID levels in May 2019.”

Methodology

Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia methodology, May 2023