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 on Thursday, February 16, by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
ABS head of migration statistics Jenny Dobak 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,” she said.
“Similarly, by December 2022, the number of short-term resident returns had increased to 71 per cent of the corresponding month in 2019.”
