NZ topped Apr arrivals

THE reopening of the trans-Tasman border saw a strong jump in Kiwi travel to Australia, with visitors from New Zealand comprising 18% of all arrivals during the month of Apr.

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures showed a continuing improvement in both inbound and outbound travel, but the number of arriving trips to Australia during Apr was still 66.4% lower than pre-COVID figures in Apr 2019.

A total of 235,460 short-term trips to Australia were recorded a year-on-year increase of about 900%, with just 22,000 visitors entering the country in Apr 2021.

42,500 Kiwis crossed the ditch, while 31,890 people from the UK arrived in Australia putting Britain in second spot, followed by 26,570 visitors from India.

In terms of outbound travel there were 282,632 resident departures during the month, - 69.2% lower than before the pandemic but again a huge uplift on the figure a year ago when just 17,000 Aussies left the country.

New Zealand was the most popular destination country with 34,380 trips, followed closely by the USA with 32,320 and then India with 32,010 Aussie visitors.

Fiji was in fourth spot with 26,760 Australian tourists, then the UK (21,750), Singapore (16,490), Thailand (13,920), Indonesia (11,240), the Philippines (7,530) and Vietnam (5,700).

mEAnWHiLE the ABS has reissued its Overseas Arrivals and Departures Data from Jul 2021 to Feb 2022 due to a “data quality issue which affected the state and territory of stay/residence data”.

Overall, during 2021 there were just 300,840 Australian departures, the lowest calendar year on record, with ‘visiting friends/relatives’ cited as the main reason for travel.