Overseas trips by Aussie travellers fall a whopping 98.1 per cent

Australia has recorded its largest-ever drop in overseas travel, according to new data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The data revealed that the number of Australians returning home after a short-term trip was down 98.1 per cent in April compared to the same time last year.

With few Aussies leaving the country, this decline – on the back of a record fall in March – continue to show the devastating effects that travel restrictions put in place by the federal government in response to COVID-19 are having on the industry.

Jenny Dobak, director of migrations statistics at the ABS, said 17,000 Aussies returned home in April 2020, compared to 916,400 one year earlier.

“Short-term visitor arrivals also fell to 2,200 trips – a 99.7 per cent decrease from the 700,400 recorded in April 2019,” she said.

For residents returning home after a short-term trip, there were decreases of more than 97 per cent across all states and territories, according to ABS data.

The state with the largest volume of residents returning was NSW with 5,700 trips. However, this was considerably smaller than the 310,700 recorded one year ago.

The data’s arrival coincided with the federal government quietly extending Australia’s overseas travel ban for a further three months to 17 September.

Featured image: iStock/georgeclerk