Annual visits to Australia by overseas residents between 1975 and 2005

The provided table and line graph illustrate the growth in annual visits to Australia by overseas residents between 1975 and 2005, broken down by country of origin. Overall, there was a significant increase in the total number of visitors to Australia throughout the period, with Japan emerging as the most prominent source of tourism.

As shown in the line graph, the total number of visits rose steadily from 8.8 million in 1975 to approximately 31.5 million by 2005. This growth was consistent across the decades, with figures reaching roughly 16.5 million in 1985 and 24.5 million in 1995.

The table provides a more detailed breakdown of these figures. Japan was the leading contributor in both years, with visitor numbers surging from 3.2 million to 12.0 million. South Korea also saw substantial growth, rising from 2.9 million to 9.1 million. While other regions such as Europe, Britain, the USA, and China accounted for smaller proportions of the total, all experienced upward trends. Notably, European visitors increased from 1.1 million to 4.5 million, while the number of visitors from China remained the lowest, growing only from 0.3 million to 0.8 million.