Brisbane hosting major sporting events, such as the Battle of Brisbane and State of Origin, has been linked to the highest spike of visitation rates in a decade.
Last month, Fairfax Media revealed an additional half-million passengers passed through Brisbane Airport in 2017-18 compared to the previous year, thanks mostly to international growth.
Brisbane Airport Corporation's latest passenger data showed a 7 per cent increase in international airport arrivals on the past financial year.
In the past year, a further 364,3000 international passengers touched down at Brisbane Airport, bringing the financial year total to more than 5.6 million.
Brisbane Airport Corporation managing director Julieanne Alroe said major sporting events had drawn significant crowds to Brisbane.
"Major events like Wallabies v South Africa and State of Origin matches in Brisbane, the Gold Coast Marathon and the Battle of Brisbane [boxing bout] drew significant crowds to Brisbane from both domestic and international markets," she said.
In the 2016-2017 financial year there was significant growth in visitation from Canada, Taiwan, the British Isles and Japan.
Ms Alroe said Brisbane's domestic travel market was steady and it was encouraging to see strong international passenger growth.
"The real gains this year have been made through the increase in international travel which has been stimulated by a 7.9 per cent boost in overseas flights, two new destinations and the addition of more than 425,700 seats to and from Brisbane in FY17," she said.
"The addition of China Eastern flights between BNE and Shanghai, new Malindo Air Kuala-Lumpur-Denpasar-Brisbane flights, and consistently high loads have contributed to this great result.
"The number of domestic destinations on offer also increased from 44 to 50 in FY17, making Brisbane the most domestically connected airport in Australia."
There was an increase of 42,500 passengers travelling domestically from Brisbane in 2016-2017, taking the figure to more than 17.2 million - a 0.2 per cent increase on the 2015-2016 financial year.
It is understood Cyclone Debbie may have impacted Brisbane's domestic airport traffic.
Brisbane's International Terminal recorded its busiest day on January 7, 2017, with 20,760 arrivals and departures, while the greatest monthly passenger growth recorded was in April with 65,813 additional travellers.
