Visitor numbers to Australia up 20 percent

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Chinese tourists were the dominant group in a 20 percent increase in short term visitors to Australia in the year to February. | Photo: Vision China (iStock)

The number of visitors to Australia jumped almost 20 percent in the year to February, 2026.

China was the largest source country, accounting for 23.3 percent of all visitor arrivals.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released this week showed that there were 943,220 short-term visitors during the year, an increase of 19.7 percent over the 12 months.

The number of trips was 1.7 percent higher than the pre-COVID level in February 2019.

Chinese visitors accounted for 220,170 of those trips followed by New Zealand (85,190) and the UK (83,580).

The Northern Territory had the biggest jump in short-term visitor arrivals over the 12 months (in percentage terms) at 53.1 percent.

This was followed by Tasmania (46.5), WA (28.1), Victoria (25.9), SA 1(19.5), Queensland (16.7) and NSW (15).

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