MAIN FEATURES


SHORT-TERM VISITOR ARRIVALS

In trend terms, short-term visitor arrivals to Australia during December 2013 (564,900 movements) increased 1.0% when compared with November 2013 (559,300 movements). Currently, short-term visitor arrivals are 7.5% higher than in December 2012.

The following table presents the top ten source countries (based on original estimates) for short-term visitor arrivals during December 2013. When trend estimates for short-term visitor arrivals for December 2012 and December 2013 were compared, the highest percentage increase was recorded for Malaysia (30.5%) followed by Hong Kong (21.0%). The only percentage decrease was recorded for Japan (3.1%).

Short-term Visitor Arrivals, Australia - December 2013
	Trend	Seasonally Adjusted	Original	Nov 13 to Dec 13	Dec 12 to Dec 13
Source countries(a)	'000	'000	'000	Trend % change	Trend % change
New Zealand	104.2	109.2	119.4	1.3	2.0
UK, CIs & IOM(b)	55.2	59.1	110.7	2.2	12.0
United States of America	45.4	45.1	63.2	1.7	8.3
Singapore	34.2	36.1	56.2	1.1	15.4
China	57.2	58.6	55.6	-2.7	1.5
Malaysia	29.3	29.8	38.9	3.2	30.5
Japan	27.7	28.2	32.8	0.5	-3.1
Hong Kong	18.1	18.6	25.1	1.9	21.0
Germany	14.3	15.1	22.3	1.9	7.9
India	15.8	15.9	20.6	1.1	16.8
(a) Top 10 source countries based on original estimates.
(b) United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man.

'What if'....? Future scenarios

The most recent trend estimates for short-term visitor arrivals are likely to be revised when the next month's seasonally adjusted estimates become available. To assist in analysing these movement trends, the approximate effects of two possible scenarios on the previous trend estimate of short-term visitor arrivals are presented:

1 The January 2013 seasonally adjusted estimate of visitor arrivals is 2.4% higher than December 2013.
2 The January 2013 seasonally adjusted estimate of visitor arrivals is 2.4% lower than December 2013.

The figure of 2.4% for visitor arrivals represents the average absolute monthly percentage change for visitor arrivals over the last ten years. For further information on the effect of new seasonally adjusted estimates on short-term visitor arrival trend estimates, see paragraph 29 of the Explanatory Notes.


SHORT-TERM RESIDENT DEPARTURES

In trend terms, short-term resident departures from Australia during December 2013 (747,900 movements) increased 0.5% when compared with November 2013 (744,300 movements). Currently, short-term resident departures are 8.0% higher than in December 2012.

The following table presents the top ten destination countries (based on original estimates) for short-term resident departures in December 2013. When trend estimates for short-term resident departures for December 2012 and December 2013 were compared, the highest percentage increase was recorded for Malaysia (25.1%), followed by Singapore (16.9%). The were no percentage decreases recorded.

Short-term Resident Departures, Australia - December 2013
	Trend	Seasonally Adjusted	Original	Nov 13 to Dec 13	Dec 12 to Dec 13
Source countries(a)	'000	'000	'000	Trend % change	Trend % change
New Zealand	99.4	100.3	161.5	0.1	5.6
United States of America	79.9	80.9	95.6	-0.1	8.4
Indonesia	82.0	84.4	89.4	0.5	9.1
Thailand	53.2	54.6	63.1	0.6	2.0
UK, CIs & IOM(b)	44.1	45.8	57.3	0.2	3.5
China	34.7	35.2	41.6	1.0	7.4
India	21.3	21.0	41.2	1.4	15.3
Malaysia	26.5	28.4	38.1	3.9	25.1
Singapore	31.9	32.4	37.9	0.8	16.9
Vietnam	18.6	19.5	33.5	-0.9	5.9
(a) Top 10 destination countries based on original estimates.
(b) United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man.

'What if'....? Future scenarios

The most recent trend estimates for short-term resident departures are likely to be revised when the next month's seasonally adjusted estimates become available. To assist in analysing these movement trends, the approximate effects of two possible scenarios on the previous trend estimate of short-term resident departures are presented:

1 The January 2013 seasonally adjusted estimate of resident departures is 2.9% higher than December 2013.
2 The January 2013 seasonally adjusted estimate of resident departures is 2.9% lower than December 2013.

The figure of 2.9% for resident departures represents the average absolute monthly percentage change for resident departures over the last ten years. For further information on the effect of new seasonally adjusted estimates on short-term resident departure trend estimates, see paragraph 29 of the Explanatory Notes.


PERMANENT AND LONG-TERM MOVEMENTS

Statistics on overseas arrivals and departures relate to the number of movements of travellers rather than the number of travellers. Care should be taken when using permanent and long-term movements data as it is known that some individuals who travel multiple times in a year are counted each time they cross Australia's borders. For example, in the year 2011, there were over 14 million multiple movements accounting for 46% of all movements (see paragraph 5 of the Explanatory Notes). Permanent and long-term movements in this publication are not an appropriate source of migration statistics. For further information refer to Australian Demographic Statistics (cat. no. 3101.0); the Information Paper: Statistical Implications of Improved Methods for Estimating Net Overseas Migration, Australia, 2007 (cat. no. 3107.0.55.005); and the Technical Note: '12/16 month rule' Methodology for Calculating Net Overseas Migration from September quarter 2006 onwards in Migration, Australia (cat. no. 3412.0) under the Explanatory Notes tab.

There were 11,930 people who stated they were permanent (settler) arrivals to Australia during December 2013, a decrease of 7.8% compared with December 2012 (12,940 movements). People born in New Zealand accounted for the largest proportion of settlers (13.4%), followed by people born in India (12.8%), China (11.4%) and the United Kingdom (5.9%).

There were 8,590 Australian residents who stated their intention was to depart permanently from Australia during December 2013, which increased 0.9% when compared with December 2012 (8,520 movements). However, analysis shows that the majority of those with an intention of permanently departing, return to Australia within the following year. For example, in the calendar year 2011, out of the 84,240 Australian residents who stated they were departing permanently, only 15,890 spent 12 months or more overseas.


STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE

The above presentation of movements in estimates does not take into account whether the change in movement is statistically significant. Care should be taken when interpreting the impact of numeric and/or percentage change. Please see the Standard Errors section of this issue for more detail.