INDONESIA has taken over New Zealand as the favourite travel destination for Aussies, as newly released ABS statistics for May reveal.
The number of short-term trips doubled compared to May 2022, however, the 705,000 total was still 18% down on pre-pandemic levels.
Australians took 108,000 trips to Indonesia during the month, making up 15% of all resident returns, while New Zealand – which claimed in the top spot in April – accounted for 73,000 trips, followed by the USA with just over 57,000.
Rounding out the top 10 destinations for May were Thailand (41,600), UK (41,400), Japan (34,450), Fiji (29,910), India (28,830), Singapore (25,140) and China (25,020).
Australia welcomed a total of 512,330 visitors from overseas during the month, representing a 120% jump on the same period last year, but a 23.3% decline on the pre-COVID May 2019 levels.
New Zealand was the number one source country, making up 19% of all visitor arrivals with 98,290 trips, followed by the USA with 42,380 and then India at 41,230.
Singapore ranked as the fourth-largest source country with 39,330, followed by the recovering Chinese market, the UK, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia and Indonesia.
New South Wales was the most popular state among overseas visitors during May, recording around 190,000 arrivals, followed by Victoria with 139,000 and Queensland, which attracted 105,000 visitors.
The Northern Territory lagged behind, with only 3,860 international tourists enticed to visit in May; it was a similar story for Tasmania, which recorded the lowest visitor number at 3,740.
