Overseas arrivals to Australia surged in June due to the Lions rugby tour, but resident departures still outnumbered arrivals by more than 150,000.
Seasonally-adjusted figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Friday showed the number of arrivals rose by 39,800 or 7.6% in June.
AAP reports most of the rise was accounted for by visitors from Britain and Ireland, which were up 33,400, or 63%, to a record high of 86,600.
However, resident departures in June still outnumbered foreign visitor arrivals by 152,600.
Through the first half of the year, the number of short-term resident departures rose by 38,600, or 6%, to 716,700.
But a downward trend over the first five months of the year, arrivals managed a first-half rise of only 27,700, or 5%, to 564,100.
