SINGAPORE, 13 November 2025: Australia’s international visitor arrivals in September exceeded the pre-COVID-19 September 2019 benchmark for the first time.
Quoting Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data, Tourism Australia called it “a long-awaited milestone” for the country’s international arrivals data.
TA also noted that it “was positive news” when compared to September 2024, with arrivals up 10.4% year-on-year. New Zealand was once again the leading source market with more than 135,000 Kiwis visiting Australia in September, followed by China with 83,000 and the UK with almost 47,000.
“Overall, the numbers for September are very encouraging as we approach the Summer period, which is traditionally the peak time for so much of our tourism industry around the country”, Tourism Australia concluded.
Key September statistics from ABS
Short-term visitor arrivals: 696,500 – an increase of 10.4% on one year earlier.
Short-term resident returns: 1,050,090 – an increase of 2.9% on one year earlier.
Total arrivals: 1,830,370 – an increase of 5.6% on one year earlier.
Total departures: 1,921,380 – an increase of 6.9% on one year earlier.
Short-term visitor arrivals, Australia – top 10 source countries (a)
The statistics represent the number of international border crossings rather than the number of people. (ABS)
(Source: Tourism Australia and ABS)
