Australian residents took 12.7 million short term trips overseas in 2025-26, and 679,600 of them went to the United States. That is 37 per cent fewer American trips than in 2018-19.
The figures are in Overseas travel trends: 7 insights from 2025-26, published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Friday. Total outbound trips were up 4 per cent on the year and 32 per cent higher than a decade ago. About 60 per cent were holidays.
Indonesia is the most visited destination, with 1,777,270 trips, or 14 per cent of the total. New Zealand had 1,489,460 and Japan 992,550. China had 743,960. The United States is fifth.
Japan is where the growth has gone. Against 2018-19, the last full year before the border closures, Japanese trips are up 105 per cent, and 82 per cent of them were holidays. Vietnam is up 76 per cent. The United Kingdom is down 9 per cent.
Inbound travel has not recovered on the same curve. Short term visitor arrivals were 9.1 million, up 8 per cent on the year but 3 per cent below the 2018-19 peak of 9.3 million. New Zealand sent the most visitors at 1,422,790, then China on 1,127,110, the United States on 755,500 and the United Kingdom on 751,420. Singapore sent 448,310.
Of those visitors, 45 per cent came for a holiday, 32 per cent to see family or friends and 6 per cent for education. The single largest group was aged 25 to 29.
The two sides of the ledger have moved apart. Australians took 3.6 million more trips out of the country than visitors took into it. Travel counts as a services export when a visitor arrives and spends here, and as an import when a resident spends abroad, so the widening gap is a drag on the services account rather than a neutral shuffle of holiday plans.
China is the clearest case of a route that runs one way. Chinese residents made 1,127,110 trips to Australia in 2025-26. Australians made 743,960 the other way. New Zealand is the closest to balanced, at 1,422,790 arrivals against 1,489,460 departures, and it is the only country in either top five where the two numbers are within reach of each other.
The Bureau publishes the counts and does not attribute causes. There is no exchange rate, airfare or policy analysis in the release, and it does not break down what any of these travellers spent.
The comparison worth tracking is the 2018-19 line. Departures cleared it some time ago and keep rising. Arrivals are still 3 per cent short of it after four years of recovery, and the gap between the two is the part of the tourism account that has not closed.
