New Zealand is leading recent growth in short-term visitor arrivals to Australia, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Travel between Australia and New Zealand was a major contributor to the increase in short-term international trips in 2022-23. New Zealand was the leading source country for short-term visitor arrivals (18 per cent) as well as the leading destination for Australians returning from a short-term trip overseas (14 per cent).
While both the number of Australian residents returning from overseas, and the number of visitor arrivals from overseas increased in 2022-23, they remain below pre-COVID levels of 2018-19.
Jenny Dobak, ABS head of migration statistics, said: “Since the COVID 19 travel restrictions were lifted, short-term resident returns has recovered more strongly than visitor arrivals. By June 2023, the volume of short-term resident returns had reached 87 per cent of pre-COVID levels, after falling to less than 1 per cent back in October 2021.
“Visitor arrivals initially recovered more slowly when restrictions were first lifted but have steadily increased towards pre-pandemic levels. By June 2023, the volume of visitor arrivals reached 82 per cent of pre-COVID levels”.
| Short-term visitor arrivals as percentage of same month from 2018-19 (pre-COVID) (%) | Short-term resident returns as percentage of same month from 2018-19 (pre-COVID) (%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Jul-21 | 2.4 | 3.7 |
| Aug-21 | 0.9 | 1.1 |
| Sep-21 | 0.6 | 0.6 |
| Oct-21 | 0.6 | 0.4 |
| Nov-21 | 2.6 | 3.2 |
| Dec-21 | 6.9 | 7.2 |
| Jan-22 | 8.3 | 10.9 |
| Feb-22 | 9.8 | 15.7 |
| Mar-22 | 20.4 | 19.4 |
| Apr-22 | 33.6 | 30.8 |
| May-22 | 34.6 | 41.6 |
| Jun-22 | 41.7 | 46.4 |
| Jul-22 | 42.1 | 59.2 |
| Aug-22 | 47 | 66.4 |
| Sep-22 | 53.9 | 65.1 |
| Oct-22 | 57.1 | 62.9 |
| Nov-22 | 63 | 75.5 |
| Dec-22 | 61.3 | 72.3 |
| Jan-23 | 56.4 | 78.8 |
| Feb-23 | 64.8 | 85.7 |
| Mar-23 | 73.3 | 84.4 |
| Apr-23 | 77.8 | 81.9 |
| May-23 | 76.7 | 81.7 |
| Jun-23 | 82.1 | 86.6 |
During the pandemic, visiting friends and relatives surpassed holidaying as the most frequently reported reason for travel for short-term visitor arrivals to Australia. While, the proportion of holidaymakers has increased, reaching 36 per cent in 2022-23, visiting friends and relatives remained the most frequently reported reason at 41 per cent.
