Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia

Latest release

Statistics on international travel arriving in and departing from Australia.

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Reference period
February 2025
Released
11/04/2025
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    Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia, May 2025
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Key statistics

In February 2025:

  • Short-term visitor arrivals: 787,770 – a decrease of 8.2% on one year earlier
  • Short-term resident returns: 923,360 – an increase of 19% on one year earlier
  • Total arrivals: 1,870,730 – an increase of 4.7% on one year earlier
  • Total departures: 1,517,920 – an increase of 1.8% on one year earlier

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.

Overseas Migration Statistics

This release presents statistics on all overseas arrivals and departures, which is not the same as overseas migration statistics.

If you are looking for ABS statistics on overseas migration, please refer to:

Arrivals and departures

  1. 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.
  1. 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.
  1. 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 - selected months(a)(b)
Category of travelFeb 2019 (no.)Feb 2023 (no.)Feb 2024 (no.)Feb 2025 (no.)Feb 2024 to Feb 2025 change (%)
Permanent arrivals8,60012,18016,40014,750-10.0
Long-term resident returns11,42012,25013,49011,820-12.4
Short-term resident returns746,080639,580775,630923,36019.0
Long-term visitor arrivals95,080110,810123,190133,0408.0
Short-term visitor arrivals927,240600,710857,950787,770-8.2
Total arrivals1,788,4301,375,5201,786,6501,870,7304.7
Long-term resident departures21,87020,06021,43019,500-9.0
Short-term resident departures667,370566,900708,590764,1207.8
Long-term visitor departures18,87026,36026,19028,3708.3
Short-term visitor departures813,630455,100735,520705,920-4.0
Total departures1,521,7301,068,4101,491,7301,517,9201.8
  1. For further information about categories of travel, see the Glossary section of the Methodology page.
  2. Category of travel data is not available from provisional estimates.

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 in February 2025:

  • A total of 787,770 short-term trips were recorded, a decrease of 70,180 (8.2%) compared with the corresponding month of the previous year.
  • The number of trips was 15.0% lower than the pre-COVID level in February 2019.
  • China was the largest source country, accounting for 16.0% of all visitor arrivals.

Countries where visitors came from

The three leading source countries where visitors came from were:

  • China (122,680 trips)
  • New Zealand (88,800)
  • The USA (79,290).

Details

State or territory of stay

All travellers are asked their intended address in Australia upon arrival. For February 2025:

  • The highest number of visitor arrivals for short-term trips was observed for New South Wales (319,280)
  • The Northern Territory recorded the fewest (2,910).

2.3 Short-term visitor arrivals, state or territory of stay - February 2025

This map presents the number of short-term visitor arrivals in Australia in February 2025, by their state of intended stay.
 

2.4 Short-term visitor arrivals, state or territory of stay
State or territory of stayFeb 2019 (no.)Feb 2023 (no.)Feb 2024 (no.)Feb 2025 (no.)Feb 2024 to Feb 2025 change (%)
NSW357,420247,020352,320319,280-9.4
Vic.259,060154,570238,270209,460-12.1
Qld165,280100,040139,620134,150-3.9
SA30,24020,92024,39025,3804.1
WA82,46057,59078,25074,760-4.5
Tas.13,2708,1809,9909,670-3.2
NT5,1102,8303,3802,910-14.1
ACT14,4209,48011,62012,0904.0
Australia(a)927,240600,710857,950787,770-8.2
  1. Includes Other Territories.

Visitor arrivals - state and territory

Compares international visitor arrivals each month by source country for each state and territory. 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

Arrivals - international students

Compares international student arrivals each month by visa type.

  • In February 2025 there were 197,270 international student arrivals to Australia, an increase of 21,320 (12.1%) students compared with the corresponding month of the previous year.
  • The number of student arrivals in February 2025 was 7.3% higher than the pre-COVID levels in February 2019.
  1. International student visa holders whether it be for a short-term (less than 1 year) or long-term (1 year or more) duration. This is not the same as when a traveller self reports 'education' as their main reason for journey.
  2. English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students.

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 in February 2025:

  • A total of 923,360 short-term trips were recorded, an increase of 147,720 (19.0%) compared with the corresponding month of the previous year.
  • The number of trips was 23.8% higher than the pre-COVID level in February 2019.
  • New Zealand was the most popular destination country, accounting for 12.0% of all resident returns.

Destination countries

The three leading destination countries residents returned from were:

  • New Zealand (111,310 trips)
  • Indonesia (106,880)
  • Japan (97,290).

Details

State or territory of residence

All travellers are asked their intended address in Australia upon arrival. For February 2025: 

  • The highest number of resident returns from short-term trips was observed for New South Wales (305,970)
  • The Northern Territory recorded the fewest (6,430).

12.3 Short-term resident returns, state or territory of residence - February 2025

This map presents the number of short-term resident returns in Australia in February 2025, by their state of intended residence.

12.4 Short-term resident returns, state or territory of residence
State or territory of residenceFeb 2019 (no.)Feb 2023 (no.)Feb 2024 (no.)Feb 2025 (no.)Feb 2024 to Feb 2025 change (%)
NSW254,710214,930258,540305,97018.3
Vic.202,210179,760213,310246,53015.6
Qld132,950110,110144,380167,32015.9
SA31,52026,69032,39037,26015.1
WA95,75083,840102,930134,11030.3
Tas.5,8406,3105,7209,03057.9
NT7,6205,3705,2606,43022.3
ACT15,28012,51012,94016,54027.9
Australia(a)746,080639,580775,630923,36019.0
  1. Includes Other Territories.

Data downloads

Notes

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Time series spreadsheets

Data files

Data Explorer datasets

Two Overseas Arrivals and Departures datasets are available in Data Explorer.

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

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

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.

For information on Data Explorer and how it works, see the Data Explorer user guide.

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.

Enquiries

For enquiries 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.

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 3401.0.

Annual analysis articles

Overseas arrivals and departures, Australia - 2023-24 financial year

Methodology

Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia methodology, February 2025