It’s hard to believe almost three years have passed since Australia said goodbye to the overseas travel ban. In 2024, Aussies have officially decided the pandemic is a thing of the past, with international travel fully bouncing back to its pre-Covid state. This comes right off the back of news that international flights from Australia are finally getting cheaper, perhaps hinting that it’s time to dust off that passport (if you haven’t already) and plan your next overseas trip.
In the latest data release from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Jenny Dobak, head of migration statistics, said: “The number of residents returning from short-term trips in 2023-24 was 32 per cent higher than in 2022-23, and reached 98 per cent of the 2018-19 (pre-Covid) volume.”
Narrowing in on 2024, January marked the first time resident returns reached 100 per cent of pre-pandemic levels since the lifting of international travel restrictions. Since then, outbound travel has consistently hit this 100 per cent mark every month, with the exception of May.
For a second year running, Indonesia has claimed the crown as the favourite country for Aussie travellers in 2023-24, with 1.5 million trips on the books. Seems we just can’t get enough of our nasi goreng and satay skewers.
Dobak said: “The growth in Australian resident trips to Indonesia outpaced the increase in trips to New Zealand by around four to one. New Zealand remains as the second most common travel destination with 1.3 million trips to the Land of the Long White Cloud in 2023-24.”
Among Australia’s five most popular overseas destinations, the USA was the only country to record a drop in travel numbers compared to ten years ago, with 714,300 trips recorded, down from 970,230 in 2013-14.
On the flip side, the number of short-term visitors coming to Australia has bounced back to 85 per cent of 2018-19 levels. Kiwis led the charge, making New Zealand our number one source of inbound travellers, while China climbed to the second spot for the first time since the pandemic. India was the fifth-most popular destination, however, it was the only country in the top five to exceed its pre-pandemic travel numbers.
If you can’t splash out on an overseas trip right now, consider a trip to one of these cheap but charming destinations in Australia.
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