August Arrivals Flat as Australians Keep Travelling
Inbound visitors rose just 0.3% in August and remain below 2019, while Australians travelled out at 5.9% above pre-pandemic levels, keeping outbound the stronger book.
Australia’s inbound market stalled in August while its outbound market kept growing, which tells advisors where the easier sales are this quarter. Short-term visitor arrivals rose only 0.3% on a year earlier and are still below 2019. Australians coming home from short trips were up 1.5% and are now well above pre-pandemic levels.
Inbound: flat, and New Zealand softening
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there were 755,530 short-term visitor arrivals in August 2026. That is up 2,210 trips (0.3%) on August 2025 and 4.3% below August 2019, when the count was 789,200.
New Zealand remained the largest source market at 110,210 arrivals, 14.6% of the total. But New Zealand was down 3.9% on August 2025 (114,660) and is 11.6% below August 2019 (124,710). China, in second place at 106,990, grew 8.4% year on year, narrowing the gap with New Zealand to 3,220 trips. Japan was third at 62,600, up 3.3%.
Elsewhere in the top 10, the USA rose 5.3% to 50,650 and Singapore 2.9% to 42,910. South Korea fell 16.2% to 30,990 and Hong Kong fell 14.6% to 26,430.
New South Wales took the most short-term visitor arrivals of any state, 289,970, down 1.0% on August 2025, the ABS says.
Outbound: above 2019, with a shifting mix
Short-term resident returns, the ABS measure of Australians coming home from trips abroad, reached 986,250 in August. That is up 14,180 (1.5%) on August 2025 and 5.9% above August 2019 (930,970).
Read next · IndustryWinter Break 2026: When the Biggest Districts Close2 min →Indonesia was the leading destination at 178,830 returns, 18.1% of the total and up 10.6% on a year earlier. New Zealand was second at 120,830, up 6.6%, and the UK third at 57,950, down 14.3%.
The movement further down the table matters more for product planning:
- Vietnam rose 30.3% year on year to 45,630 and has more than doubled since August 2019 (22,180).
- Fiji rose 13.7% to 41,950, now 29.6% above August 2019.
- The USA slipped 2.2% to 49,600 and is 41.4% below August 2019 (84,600).
- The UK, still the top long-haul destination, is 20.1% below August 2019 (72,550).
What the numbers do and don’t say
The ABS counts border crossings, not people, so one traveller making two trips counts twice. The most recent month is provisional and will be revised in the next issue. Seasonally adjusted and trend series are not published on the release page. The September figures are due on 12 November 2026.
The trans-Tasman picture is uneven. More Australians are going to New Zealand, while fewer New Zealanders are coming to Australia. That is the backdrop as Western Sydney International opens with Air New Zealand Auckland flights from 26 October and a daily Singapore Airlines service from 23 November.
Sources
- Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia, August 2026 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, released 13 October 2026)
- Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia: series page (Australian Bureau of Statistics)
- Western Sydney International to open for passengers on 25 October (Prime Minister of Australia, 10 June 2026)
Catherine Crowe is Pacific Market Editor at Not An Atlas, leading our Australia and New Zealand coverage from just outside Wellington, on the southern coast of New Zealand's North Island, by way of Canada. A speech-language pathologist, mother and former model, she travels the way she listens: closely, and for the story underneath. She still writes on family and wellness travel, and the long-haul logistics of both.
