With just two months of 2022 left, holiday planning is well underway.
So what are the top destinations for which Australians are packing their travel bags?
The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) provides a snapshot of Australia's international travel landscape so far.
While we're not at 2019 levels yet, the data shows we're about halfway there.
Here's the moment overseas travel vanished in 2020
The airline and travel industry suffered gravely throughout 2020, the beginning of the pandemic.
Unsurprisingly, the latest data from the ABS reflects this.
Its chart of overseas travel data over the past decade shows a dramatic fall in arrivals and departures from January 2020.
More than 1 million overseas arrivals in August
August saw 1,027,700 overseas arrivals to Australia, a decrease of 53,910 trips compared to July.
Of this total, 348,440 were short-term arrivals — travellers who have been away or who planned to be in Australia for less than 12 months.
While 47,110 were long-term — travellers who have been away or who planned to be in Australia for 12 months or more.
There was a decrease in overseas departures from Australia
August also saw 942,210 overseas departures from Australia, which was a decrease of 26,270 trips when compared to July.
Which countries are Australians travelling to?
Data from Webjet provided to ABC News revealed the top five overseas destinations booked in August and September.
August 1 to August 31
Three out of the five top destinations were New Zealand.
- 1.Auckland, New Zealand (33.3 per cent)
- 2.Denpasar, Indonesia (15.7per cent)
- 3.Queenstown, New Zealand (10.2 per cent)
- 4.Fiji (9.4 per cent)
- 5.Christchurch, New Zealand (9.3 per cent)
September 1 to September 30
- 1.Auckland, New Zealand (33.3 per cent)
- 2.Denpasar, Indonesia (13.8 per cent)
- 3.Queenstown, New Zealand (9.6 per cent)
- 4.Christchurch, New Zealand (9.1 per cent)
- 5.Fiji (8.2 per cent)
Bookings from Australia to Japan have skyrocketed
Webjet also revealed that, from September 23 to October 10, the number of flights booked from Australia to Japan increased by 309 per cent on the previous period*.
The surge in bookings comes after Japan threw open its doors to visitors this week, after more than two years of pandemic isolation.
From Tuesday, Japan reinstated visa-free travel for dozens of countries, including Australia, and scrapped its cap of 50,000 daily arrivals, ending some of the world's strictest border controls to slow the spread of COVID-19.
*Data compares the 18-day period specified (following the official Japanese Government announcement) with the 18-day period immediately before.
New Zealand was the number one country short-term visitors came to Australia from
The ABS revealed there were three leading countries where short-term visitors came from:
- New Zealand – 75,500 trips
- India – 32,410 trips
- Singapore – 29,150 trips
The United States and United Kingdom weren't far behind Singapore.
CHOICE's money and travel manager, Jodi Bird, said that, during the first few lockdowns of 2020, there were reports that the airline industry and international travel would return to its 2019 state in 2024.
"That's actually looking quite accurate," Mr Bird told ABC News.
"Within a year or two, we will start to get back to normal."
