SINGAPORE, 16 July 2026: Australia welcomed close to 9.2 million visitors in the 12 months to May this year, up 9.5% on the previous year and equivalent to 98.2% of 2019 levels.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released the latest overseas arrivals data for May 2026 earlier this week, showing that nine of Tourism Australia’s priority markets are back to 2019 levels.
The priority markets showing pre-COVID recovery trends comprised New Zealand, the UK, Singapore, India, South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, France and Italy.
In its digital newsletter, released on Wednesday, Tourism Australia confirmed arrivals from key markets in Asia delivered strong year-on-year growth, led by Japan (+21%), Malaysia (+21%), Singapore (+13%), South Korea (+5%), and China (+4%).
Meanwhile, the US saw moderate growth of 5%, while arrivals from Canada remained unchanged. In May 2026, there were 609,040 short-term visitor arrivals.
2.2 Short-term visitor arrivals, Australia – top 10 source countries(a)
Data: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
(Source: Tourism Australia)
