Australia had 8,090 short-stay visitors from Ireland in February, according to the latest release from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, up 9.5pc on February2025 and 38.1pc on pre-pandemic. Rolling annual was 98,740, up 17.4pc on the twelve months to February 2025.
The figure covers the month to the eve of the Gulf war, which cut off each of the three largest hub airports of choice for Irish visitors to Australia.
In February 2026, Australia recorded 943,220 short-term visitor arrivals overall, a 19.7pc increase compared to February 2025. This growth was heavily driven by a surge in arrivals from China, coinciding with the timing of the Chinese New Year.
China reached 220,170 arrivals, the strongest single-market result for the month. For the full year ending February 2026, China became Australia’s second-largest inbound market with 1.1m visitors.
New Zealand remained a major source with 85,190 arrivals, though this represented a slight decrease of 4.1pc from the previous year. England recorded 83,580 arrivals, reflecting steady growth of 7.7pc.
The figure for January for short term holidays from Ireland was 12,060, up 7.9pc on 2025 and 67.7pc on pre-pandemic2026. Rolling annual was up 17pc on the twelve months leading to January 2025.
