International travel recovers in 2022: Australia

International travel in Australia has seen a resurgence throughout 2022, with over 19 million arrivals and departures combined across the year, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Total overseas arrivals and departures - December 2012 to January 2023(a)

	Arrivals (M)	Departures (M)
Dec 2012	1.32	1.54
Jan 2013	1.58	1.32
Feb 2013	1.26	1.09
Mar 2013	1.24	1.29
Apr 2013	1.23	1.26
May 2013	1.10	1.20
Jun 2013	1.16	1.34
Jul 2013	1.51	1.30
Aug 2013	1.30	1.34
Sep 2013	1.33	1.38
Oct 2013	1.53	1.23
Nov 2013	1.28	1.30
Dec 2013	1.42	1.68
Jan 2014	1.74	1.47
Feb 2014	1.34	1.18
Mar 2014	1.28	1.30
Apr 2014	1.33	1.41
May 2014	1.19	1.27
Jun 2014	1.18	1.42
Jul 2014	1.59	1.34
Aug 2014	1.36	1.43
Sep 2014	1.38	1.41
Oct 2014	1.57	1.30
Nov 2014	1.34	1.36
Dec 2014	1.46	1.71
Jan 2015	1.78	1.49
Feb 2015	1.42	1.24
Mar 2015	1.39	1.45
Apr 2015	1.37	1.41
May 2015	1.22	1.31
Jun 2015	1.23	1.46
Jul 2015	1.65	1.43
Aug 2015	1.42	1.45
Sep 2015	1.46	1.48
Oct 2015	1.65	1.40
Nov 2015	1.42	1.44
Dec 2015	1.58	1.85
Jan 2016	1.91	1.64
Feb 2016	1.56	1.37
Mar 2016	1.48	1.54
Apr 2016	1.47	1.49
May 2016	1.30	1.39
Jun 2016	1.33	1.58
Jul 2016	1.83	1.57
Aug 2016	1.51	1.55
Sep 2016	1.59	1.60
Oct 2016	1.78	1.50
Nov 2016	1.51	1.54
Dec 2016	1.72	1.99
Jan 2017	2.07	1.78
Feb 2017	1.63	1.39
Mar 2017	1.52	1.58
Apr 2017	1.65	1.71
May 2017	1.40	1.49
Jun 2017	1.42	1.67
Jul 2017	1.91	1.65
Aug 2017	1.62	1.66
Sep 2017	1.67	1.70
Oct 2017	1.88	1.57
Nov 2017	1.60	1.64
Dec 2017	1.76	2.08
Jan 2018	2.13	1.81
Feb 2018	1.73	1.52
Mar 2018	1.68	1.74
Apr 2018	1.67	1.71
May 2018	1.48	1.56
Jun 2018	1.51	1.79
Jul 2018	2.01	1.73
Aug 2018	1.72	1.77
Sep 2018	1.72	1.76
Oct 2018	1.96	1.64
Nov 2018	1.67	1.72
Dec 2018	1.85	2.18
Jan 2019	2.22	1.91
Feb 2019	1.79	1.52
Mar 2019	1.66	1.68
Apr 2019	1.67	1.83
May 2019	1.59	1.63
Jun 2019	1.56	1.80
Jul 2019	2.01	1.76
Aug 2019	1.78	1.81
Sep 2019	1.75	1.80
Oct 2019	1.98	1.68
Nov 2019	1.72	1.74
Dec 2019	1.89	2.24
Jan 2020	2.26	1.97
Feb 2020	1.57	1.29
Mar 2020	0.92	0.83
Apr 2020	0.02	0.06
May 2020	0.02	0.03
Jun 2020	0.03	0.04
Jul 2020	0.02	0.06
Aug 2020	0.01	0.06
Sep 2020	0.02	0.05
Oct 2020	0.02	0.05
Nov 2020	0.03	0.04
Dec 2020	0.03	0.05
Jan 2021	0.03	0.04
Feb 2021	0.03	0.03
Mar 2021	0.03	0.03
Apr 2021	0.05	0.06
May 2021	0.11	0.11
Jun 2021	0.10	0.10
Jul 2021	0.07	0.09
Aug 2021	0.03	0.04
Sep 2021	0.02	0.03
Oct 2021	0.02	0.04
Nov 2021	0.07	0.09
Dec 2021	0.20	0.23
Jan 2022	0.27	0.19
Feb 2022	0.27	0.18
Mar 2022	0.37	0.34
Apr 2022	0.57	0.61
May 2022	0.65	0.66
Jun 2022	0.73	0.88
Jul 2022	1.08	0.97
Aug 2022	1.03	0.94
Sep 2022	1.07	1.04
Oct 2022	1.21	1.01
Nov 2022	1.19	1.18
Dec 2022	1.26	1.52
Jan 2023	1.61	1.38

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 Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia.

Jenny Dobak, ABS head of migration statistics, said that while total arrivals for 2022 reached just 45 per cent of 2019 levels, monthly figures showed the recovery building through the year. Total arrivals in December 2022 reached 1.3 million, compared with less than 300,000 in the first month of the year.

"Short-term visitor arrivals in 2022 remained lower than before the COVID-19 pandemic, with the number of arrivals in January 2022 just 8 per cent of the same period in 2019. However, the number of arrivals increased steadily over the year and by December had grown to 60 per cent of the same period in 2019.

"Similarly, by December 2022, the number of short-term resident returns had increased to 71 per cent of the corresponding month in 2019," Ms Dobak said.

Short-term visitor arrivals and short-term residents returns, Australia - monthly - 2022 compared with 2019

	2022 short-term visitor arrivals (%)	2022 short-term resident returns (%)
Jan	8.3	10.9
Feb	9.8	15.7
Mar	20.4	19.4
Apr	33.6	30.8
May	34.6	41.6
Jun	41.7	46.4
Jul	41.2	59.8
Aug	44.2	65.3
Sep	53.5	63.8
Oct	55.6	63.0
Nov	61.9	72.0
Dec	60.2	70.7

New Zealand is now the largest source of visitors (698,000) and replaces China, which was the largest source of visitors in 2019. Indonesia, Canada and Germany were all in the top 10 source countries for 2022 after not featuring in the top 10 in 2019.

Short-term visitor arrivals, Australia - top 10 source countries(a) - 2022

Country of residence	2019 ('000)	2022 ('000)
New Zealand	1,433.78	697.62
UK, CIs & IOM	715.83	399.21
USA	817.98	326.04
India	399.30	303.34
Singapore	478.51	295.81
Indonesia	221.73	90.84
China	1,438.67	89.26
Canada	189.61	88.00
Germany	207.11	85.36
Malaysia	384.93	85.26

Top 10 source countries based on number of short-term visitor arrivals in 2022.

While New Zealand was largest source of visitors, arrivals from India (303,000) had the strongest recovery in 2022, reaching 76 per cent of its pre-pandemic level from 2019. Singapore (296,000) was the next strongest of the top 10 source countries, reaching 62 per cent of its 2019 level.

In contrast, there were 89,000 arrivals from China, which accounted for just 6 per cent of its pre-pandemic level.

Short-term visitor arrivals, Australia - top 10 source countries(a) - 2022 compared with 2019

	Country of residence - 2022 arrivals as percentage of 2019 (%)
New Zealand	48.7
UK, CIs & IOM	55.8
USA	39.9
India	76.0
Singapore	61.8
Indonesia	41.0
China(b)	6.2
Canada	46.4
Germany	41.2
Malaysia	22.1

Top 10 source countries based on number of short-term visitor arrivals in 2022.
Excludes SARs and Taiwan.

/ABS Public Release. This material from the originating organization/author(s) might be of the point-in-time nature, and edited for clarity, style and length. Mirage.News does not take institutional positions or sides, and all views, positions, and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s).View in full here.

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