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Travel and Tourism in Australia
Travel alerts, currency, climate, transit, health, and safety information for visitors to Australia.
Practical Information
Travel alert status, currency, climate, and transit details.
- Travel Alert Status
- Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions
- Time Difference
- UTC+10 (14 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time) time zone note: Australia has four time zones, including Lord Howe Island (UTC+10:30)
- Currency
- 1.352
- Climate
- Australia is a large, comparatively dry, and sparsely inhabited continent, almost as large as the 48 contiguous U.S. states. Australia, the only continent that consists of a single nation, is also the only inhabited continent that is isolated from all others (total coastline exceeds 22,000 miles). The average elevation is about 985 feet, which makes it the flattest continent on earth. This is among the prime reasons for sparse annual rainfall--16.5 inches, which is less than two-thirds of the world average (26 inches). Further, the rain falls mainly on coastal regions: forty percent of the surface gets less than 10 inches per year, and annual evaporation exceeds annual rainfall on about three-quarters of the land. Overall runoff is less than half that of the Mississippi basin; Australia has no navigable rivers of any commercial significance. In general, the country is warmer than the U.S. (the northern one-third is in the Tropics, the rest in the Temperate Zone). Temperature extremes are much less pronounced. Sydney's average daytime temperature in the coldest month (July) is 59°F; in the warmest month (January), 81°F.
- Language(s) Spoken
- English 72%, Mandarin 2.7%, Arabic 1.4%, Vietnamese 1.3%, Cantonese 1.2%, other 15.7%, unspecified 5.7%
- Ethnic Groups
- English 33%, Australian 29.9%, Irish 9.5%, Scottish 8.6%, Chinese 5.5%, Italian 4.4%, German 4%, Indian 3.1%, Australian Aboriginal 2.9%, Greek 1.7%, unspecified 4.7%
- National Holiday
- Australia Day (commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet of Australian settlers), 26 January (1788); ANZAC Day (commemorates the anniversary of the landing of troops of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during World War I at Gallipoli, Turkey), 25 April (1915)
- Geographic Coordinates
- 27 00 S, 133 00 E
- Location
- Oceania, the continent between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean
- Airports
- 444
Destinations
Regions and cities, top sights, national parks, UNESCO sites, and festivals for visitors.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Australia holds 21 properties inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, a collection that reflects the extraordinary natural and cultural diversity of the continent. The Great Barrier Reef, inscribed in 1981, encompasses 344,000 square kilometers of coral reef, islands, and open ocean and is recognized for its outstanding universal value as the world's largest coral reef system. Kakadu National Park, inscribed in 1981 with extensions in 1987 and 1992, is recognized for both its natural values, including exceptional biodiversity and ecosystem integrity, and its cultural values, including the extraordinary rock art record spanning at least 20,000 years. The Willandra Lakes Region of western New South Wales, inscribed in 1981, contains evidence of human occupation dating back at least 45,000 years, including the remains of Mungo Man and Mungo Lady, representing some of the earliest anatomically modern humans found outside Africa.
The Tasmanian Wilderness, inscribed in 1982 with extensions in 1989, encompasses approximately 1.4 million hectares of the island's southwest and includes Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, Southwest National Park, and the World Heritage-listed sites of Port Arthur. Lord Howe Island Group, inscribed in 1982, is recognized for its exceptional natural beauty and the high proportion of endemic species on this volcanic island 600 kilometers east of Port Macquarie.
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Health and Safety
Medical facilities, vaccinations, disease risk, and sanitation conditions.
Excellent medical care is available in Australia. Serious medical problems requiring hospitalization and/or medical evacuation to the United States can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Most doctors and hospitals expect immediate cash/credit card payments for health services. We recommend travel insurance.
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