New Zealand continues to be the leading destination for Australians travelling overseas according to new data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Director of Migration Statistics at ABS, Jenny Dobak said Australians made nearly 1.5 million short-term trips across the Tasman in 2019.
“New Zealand was the leading destination country for residents of NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and the ACT,” Ms Dobak said.
“Indonesia remained in second position with over 1.4 million trips and was the leading destination for those living in South Australia, Western Australian, and the Northern Territory.”
She said a record 11.3 million overseas trips were made by Australians in 2019, almost double that of ABS figures from 10 years ago.
“There has been a strong increase of Australian residents travelling overseas over recent years,” Ms Dobak said.
“Holiday was the main reason for travel for 57 per cent of Aussies returning home from a short-term trip overseas,” she said.
“Visiting friends and relatives was next, at 26 per cent.”
She said the average duration for overseas trips by Australians was 14 days.
“Of the top 10 destination countries, those travelling to the UK stayed away the longest (24 days on average), followed by those travelling to India (23 days),” Ms Dobak said.
“The shortest average days away were for Fiji (seven days) and New Zealand (eight days),” she said.
