Sydney, May 13 (People’s Daily Online) – Australia has recorded an unprecedented decrease in visitor arrivals due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions.

According to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Tuesday, Australia has seen its largest-ever drop in overseas travel with visitor arrivals falling 60 percent in March 2020 compared to a year earlier.

Jenny Dobak, ABS Director of Migration Statistics, said: "In March 2020, there were 331,900 visitors who had arrived for a short-term trip compared to 836,300 12 months earlier.”

"Of the top 10 source countries, China recorded the largest decrease of 78 percent followed closely by Japan with a decrease of 75 percent."

"The steep fall in visitor arrivals to Australia in March was from all regions around the world. Even our largest source country, New Zealand, recorded a 56 percent drop,” Dobak mentioned.

The arrival of international students saw a heavy drop of 11,790 students, down 16 percent, compared to the same month in the previous year.

All states and territories recorded large falls in international visitor numbers. The Northern Territory saw the largest fall of 66 percent. Although New South Wales led the way with the largest volume of international arrivals (114,500 visitors), numbers were down 64 percent compared to March 2019.

Dobak goes on to mention there was also a record fall in the number of Australian residents returning from short-term trips overseas, down 29 percent to 538,400.