Australian tourism remains below pre-pandemic levels

Friday, February 17, 2023

Despite an overall improvement over the last year, Australian tourism remains below pre-pandemic levels. According to new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, overall arrivals in 2022 is 45% of what they were in 2019.

In 2022, around 3.7 million visitors arrived in Australia, a 15% increase over the previous year. Nonetheless, this figure is still 2.5 million lower than a decade ago.

According to the data, despite a difficult start to the year, international tourism increased as travel restrictions were lifted.

New Zealand was named the leading source of tourist arrivals in 2022 relacing China from the top spot.
NSW remained the most popular state, with 35.5 percent of all short-term tourists (those staying less than 12 months) followed by Victoria (26.4 percent) and Queensland (24.4 percent) (21.0 per cent).

Tourist arrivals from India (303,000) and Singapore (296,000) increased from 2019 levels. In comparison, there were only 89,000 arrivals from China, accounting for only 6% of pre-pandemic levels. More than 1.4 million Chinese visitors visited Australia in 2019, spending an estimated $10.3 billion.

Notably, Australia is not on China’s list of approved tour groups, and proof of a negative Covid test is still required to enter the country.

According to Austrade analysis published last month, the number of Chinese visitors would not recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2026.

Around 59,480 international students came in Australia in January, which is more than twice the number of students who returned in 2023. This does not include the 40,000 Chinese students who are anticipated to return to Australia after Beijing’s announcement of a blanket ban on online study at overseas universities.

Catriona Jackson, Chief Executive of Universities Australia, called it a welcome boost to the economy.
“There is still a way to go in reaching pre-Covid numbers, but we are pleased by the progress to date,” she said.

“More students coming from China – our largest source market – will be a welcome boost as we work back to the position of strength we held prior to the pandemic.”

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