Australia welcomes first international tourists in almost two years

The country is opening its borders to tourists from overseas for the first time in almost two years as 56 international flights arrive today.

The UK, US, Canada, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, and Japan are some of the countries that have flights to and from the airport in Sydney.

The Qantas Group will fly more than 14,000 passengers into Australia this week as border barriers for international tourists come down.

Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce said that bookings had been strong since the Australian government opened the country to international visitors.

Thousands of international tourists arriving this week and many more over the coming months will help revive the tourism industry which has been struggling for the past couple of years.

People are very keen to come back to Australia, and we continue to see strong bookings out of the US and UK, as well as South Africa and Canada.

Western Australia is closed until March 3 so travellers can't enter.

Australia's tourism sector supports 660,000 jobs and will be rejuvenated by the return of double vaccine international visitors.

Australia welcomed overseas tourists with a welcome mat and special events at the airport.

The first visitors were given gifts of vegemite and koalas and a DJ playing Australia's favourite tunes.

International tourists will come here to sample our world-leading food and drink, learn about our Indigenous culture, and enjoy the Australian way of life, according to the minister.

Tourism Australia has launched a marketing campaign to coincide with the reopening of international borders.