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Summary
- There was a decline of 75 per cent in Aussies travelling overseas with 8.5 million fewer trips in 2020, the lowest in last 24 years, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data showed.
- The Australians returning from India stayed away the longest last year, among the top 10 countries on the list.
- New Zealand remained the leading destination accounting for 438,700 trips in 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic played spoilsports with Australians’ overseas travel plans in 2020, with the numbers hitting a 24-year low. As revealed by the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data, there was a 75% decline in the number of Aussies travelling overseas with 8.5 million fewer trips during the pandemic-stricken year.
Last year, 2.8 million Australians returned home after a short-trip, according to the ABS data. Ninety-two per cent of the people took these trips before coronavirus-induced travel restrictions were brought in by the Australian government on 20 March 2020.
Image Source: ABS data, 17 February 2021
Popular destinations
Commenting on the data, ABS Director of Migration Statistics, Jenny Dobak said that New Zealand remained the leading destination with 438,700 trips in 2020. The next popular destinations on the list were Indonesia (310,300 trips), followed by the US (235,500), India (186,200) and Japan (173,000).
Travel duration
The median duration away for Australians was 17 days. The Australians returning from India stayed away the longest last year among the top 10 countries on the list. They stayed away for 31 days. The next on the list was China (28 days), followed by New Zealand (11 days) and Indonesia (10 days).
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Interestingly, the data also showed that more visits were taken by women as compared to men. The scenario was completely opposite ten years ago. The main reason that Australians travelled was for holidays.
Image Source: ABS data, 17 February 2021
Meanwhile, the tourism industry was the most impacted amid the coronavirus-induced lockdowns as flights came to a halt, and people preferred to stay at home. In January 2021, the Tourism and Transport Forum had warned that the industry had no hope of recovery as international borders remained closed, in the absence of further support beyond JobKeeper.
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