travel to vs. arrive at

English as a Second Language English Teacher Explanations (ESL Tests)
1

English Language Tests, Intermediate level

ESL/EFL Test #151 [color=blue]“Traveling Downunder: How can I immigrate to Australia?”, question 5

There has been a sharp increase in the number of boat people … to Australia in the past ten years.

(a) arriving
(b) traveling
(c) departing
(d) transiting

English Language Tests, Intermediate level

ESL/EFL Test #151 [color=blue]“Traveling Downunder: How can I immigrate to Australia?”, answer 5

There has been a sharp increase in the number of boat people traveling to Australia in the past ten years.

Correct answer: (b) traveling

Your answer was: [color=red]incorrect
There has been a sharp increase in the number of boat people arriving to Australia in the past ten years.
[size=200]_________________________[/size]

Can we use arrive also??? Or arrive just used with prep. at???
Thank you

2

Hi

No, ‘arrive’ is not appropriate in combination with the preposition ‘to’ in the sentence.
In this particular sentence, the preposition ‘in’ would work better than ‘at’ in combination with the verb ‘arrive’.
.