The table illustrates the number of Australian citizens who travelled to seven different destinations which were the most common – namely New Zealand, the UK, the US, Indonesia, Fiji, Japan and China, in the years 1999 and 2009, each with separate percentage change.
Overall, the number of Australian visitors to all these destinations experienced an upward trend, among which New Zealand observed the most significant increase. Additionally, China was the most favoured tourist spot among the destinations throughout.
In 1999, New Zealand led with the highest number of visitors, accounting for 500, 700 individuals. This was followed by the UK, the US and Indonesia, at 640, 000 individuals, 400, 000 individuals and 340, 000 individuals, respectively. Moving further down the ranking, the figures for Fiji and Japan were roughly identical, accounting for 257,000 individuals and 250, 000 individuals respectively. In contrast, there were 86, 000 Australian people visiting China, highlighting the least significant tourist attraction among the destinations.
By 2009, China witnessed the highest percentage change with an increase of 249% to 300, 000 individuals, surpassing Fiji and Japan. Ranking below this, there was a growth of 150% to 250, 000 tourists in Japan, whereas Indonesia experienced a 127% rise to 340,000 individuals. Meanwhile, both New Zealand and Fiji showed a climbing up of approximately 113% each, with the former growing to 1, 064, 000 individuals and the latter reaching 257, 000 visitors. By contrast, the UK and the US exhibited lower percentage changes, going up by 60% to 640, 000 individuals and 33% to 400, 000 visitors, respectively.