Australia has recorded its largest ever drop in overseas travel with visitor arrivals falling 60 per cent in March 2020 compared to a year earlier, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
ABS Director of Migration Statistics Jenny Dobak said there was also a record fall in the number of Australian residents returning from short-term trips overseas, down 29 per cent to 538,400. These large decreases reflect the travel restriction progressively put in place by the Australian Government from the beginning of February due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
“In March 2020, there were 331,900 visitors who had arrived for a short-term trip compared to 836,300 12 months earlier,” Ms Dobak said.
Visitor arrivals by month – short-term trips(a)
