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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
September 2021
Released
12/11/2021
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Key statistics

In September 2021:

  • Total arrivals: 18,840 – a monthly decrease of 8,140 trips

  • Total departures: 30,330 – a monthly decrease of 6,860 trips. The lowest on record.

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:

Arrivals and departures

(a) 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.

(a) 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 now 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.

(a) 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)
 Sep-19Sep-20Aug-21Sep-21Monthly change Aug 21 to Sep 21
Category of travel(no.)(no.)(no.)(no.)(no.)
Permanent arrivals(b)7,5209202,8002,290-510
Australian resident returns(c)     
          long-term10,6302,5305,5403,930-1,600
          short-term992,8208,17010,3106,020-4,290
Overseas visitor arrivals(d)     
          long-term40,1708802,0902,18090
          short-term694,9603,7206,2404,410-1,830
TOTAL ARRIVALS1,746,10016,20026,98018,840-8,140
Australian resident departures(c)     
          long-term16,9302,7905,4204,430-1,000
          short-term1,133,10013,66016,66014,420-2,240
Overseas Visitor departures(d)     
          long-term18,5606,06010,2509,220-1,040
          short-term627,95025,9804,8502,270-2,580
TOTAL DEPARTURES1,796,54048,49037,18030,330-6,860

a. Category of travel data is not available from provisional estimates.
b. 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.
c. Australian resident includes Australian citizens, permanent visa holders residing in Australia, and any New Zealand citizens who can be identified as a resident.
d. 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 4,410 short-term trips were recorded, an increase of 700 compared with the corresponding month of the previous year.
  • September 2021 trips decreased 99.4% when compared with pre-COVID levels in September 2019.
  • Afghanistan was the largest source country, accounting for 11% of all visitor arrivals.

Source countries

The three leading source countries where visitors came from were:

  • Afghanistan (470 trips)
  • The UK (380)
  • Vanuatu (360).

Details

State or territory of stay

All travellers are asked their intended address in Australia upon arrival. For September 2021, the highest number of visitor arrivals was observed for New South Wales (2,380) whilst Tasmania recorded the fewest (30). 

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 - Financial year 2020-21

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 with volumes at a record low for the 2020-21 financial year. 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.

Visitors arriving in Australia in 2020-21:

  • There were 150,880 visitor arrivals, down 97.8% on the previous year
  • New Zealand was the largest source country, accounting for 83,710 visitors nationally
  • The main reason for travel was 'Visiting friends/relatives' (54.1%). A year ago it was 'Holiday' (46.3%)
  • Nationally, the median duration of stay in Australia was 27 days.

Annual visitor arrivals

Source countries

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 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

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 6,020 short-term trips were recorded, a decrease of 2,140 compared with the corresponding month of the previous year.
  • September 2021 trips decreased 99.4% when compared with pre-COVID levels in September 2019.
  • The USA was the most popular destination country, accounting for 14% of all resident returns.

Destination countries

The three leading destination countries residents returned from were:

  • The USA (870 trips)
  • The UK (590)
  • Japan (500).

Details

State or territory of residence

All travellers are asked their intended address in Australia upon arrival.  For September 2021, the highest number of resident returns were observed for New South Wales (4,150) whilst Tasmania recorded the fewest (30). 

Details

Resident returns - short-term - Financial year 2020-21

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 with volumes at a record low for the 2020-21 financial year. 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.

Australian residents returning to Australia in 2020-21:

  • There were 223,830 resident returns from overseas, down 97.4% on the previous year and the lowest since 1996
  • New Zealand continued to be the leading destination country for Australians travelling overseas, accounting for 122,740 trips nationally
  • The main reason for travel was 'visiting friends/relatives' (52.7%)
  • Nationally, the median duration away was 29 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, and provisional estimates

From June 2021, the ABS has updated the layout and statistics available at the beginning of this publication. It now includes statistics in the commentary on total arrivals and total departures (including provisional figures) rather than just a focus on short-term travel. This is due to increased interest in all travel to Australia. 

To provide more timely travel data in response to COVID-19, provisional estimates are now 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.

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

For inquiries 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.

Data downloads

We will be progressively transitioning to releasing Excel files in .XLSX format from 3rd December 2021.

I-notes

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Time series spreadsheets

Data files

ABS.Stat datasets

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

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

ABS.Stat is updating and the above datasets are now available in 'Data Explorer'. 
The data available in Data Explorer is similar to ABS.Stat but with a new interface and added functionality.
For more information about Data Explorer and to see what's changed, see the Data Explorer user guide.
The current version of ABS.Stat will be removed at the end of 2021.

Data Explorer datasets

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.

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

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

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 3401.0

Article archive

Previous Feature Articles

Methodology

Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia methodology, September 2021

Media releases