Australia inbound tourism shows growth
Official figures are up on last year but short-term visitor arrivals remain below pre-Covid levels
Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show sustained growth in inbound visitors and the number of residents returning in the first half of 2025.
The statistics report on the number of international border crossings rather than the number of people. According to the ABS, total arrivals into Australia were 2,068,460 – an increase of 7.4% on one year earlier, while the total number of departures was 1,819,770 – an increase of 10.3%.
For short-term visitor arrivals to Australia in July 2025, a total of 743,210 trips were recorded, an increase of 84,240 (12.8%) compared with the corresponding month of the previous year. However, the number of trips was 6% lower than the pre-Covid level in July 2019, showing that recovery is still ongoing for the Australian travel industry.
Short-term resident returns, meanwhile, numbered 1,205,170 – an increase of 5.1% on one year earlier.
New Zealand was the largest source country, accounting for 17% of all visitor arrivals, followed by China, and then the UK.
In terms of where visitors are going when they reach Australia, the data showed that the highest number of visitor arrivals for short-term trips was observed for New South Wales (257,410), while Tasmania recorded the fewest (5,350).