MAIN FEATURES


SHORT-TERM VISITOR ARRIVALS

In trend terms, short-term visitor arrivals to Australia during October 2013 (548,400 movements) increased 0.8% when compared with September 2013 (544,300 movements). Currently, short-term visitor arrivals are 5.1% higher than in October 2012.

The following table presents the top ten source countries (based on original estimates) for short-term visitor arrivals during October 2013. When trend estimates for short-term visitor arrivals for October 2012 and October 2013 were compared, the highest percentage increase was recorded for China (15.2%) followed by Malaysia (12.7%). The only percentage decrease was recorded for Japan (3.9%).

Short-term Visitor Arrivals, Australia - October 2013
	Trend	Seasonally Adjusted	Original	Sep 13 to Oct 13	Oct 12 to Oct 13
Source countries(a)	'000	'000	'000	Trend % change	Trend % change
New Zealand	100.1	101.4	121.2	0.3	0.3
UK, CIs & IOM(b)	50.1	49.8	51.8	-0.1	1.8
China	64.7	57.0	43.1	-0.2	15.2
United States of America	43.1	45.4	40.6	2.2	4.9
Singapore	33.3	32.3	30.0	0.8	9.7
Japan	27.9	29.0	28.7	1.1	-3.9
Malaysia	25.8	25.1	22.1	2.3	12.7
South Korea	16.6	16.4	16.0	0.5	0.7
Germany	13.3	13.4	15.8	0.1	1.4
Hong Kong	16.8	16.5	14.8	1.1	11.4
(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 November 2013 seasonally adjusted estimate of visitor arrivals is 2.4% higher than October 2013.
2 The November 2013 seasonally adjusted estimate of visitor arrivals is 2.4% lower than October 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 October 2013 (739,300 movements) increased 0.1% when compared with September 2013 (738,300 movements). Currently, short-term resident departures are 7.2% higher than in October 2012.

The following table presents the top ten destination countries (based on original estimates) for short-term resident departures in October 2013. When trend estimates for short-term resident departures for October 2012 and October 2013 were compared, the highest percentage increase was recorded for Singapore (20.6%), followed by India (13.1%). The only percentage decrease was recorded for Thailand (0.1%).

Short-term Resident Departures, Australia - October 2013
	Trend	Seasonally Adjusted	Original	Sep 13 to Oct 13	Oct 12 to Oct 13
Source countries(a)	'000	'000	'000	Trend % change	Trend % change
Indonesia	82.3	80.6	88.1	1.0	8.8
New Zealand	97.9	97.7	88.0	-0.5	5.0
United States of America	80.9	80.2	73.0	-	9.2
Thailand	52.0	52.2	56.2	-0.1	-0.1
China	33.7	34.4	40.7	1.2	7.8
Singapore	32.4	33.4	33.5	2.9	20.6
Fiji	27.9	28.1	31.4	-1.6	1.1
UK, CIs & IOM(b)	43.5	42.5	26.0	-1.3	5.2
Malaysia	22.5	22.6	22.7	-0.3	6.2
India	20.5	20.8	22.1	1.2	13.1
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(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 November 2013 seasonally adjusted estimate of resident departures is 2.9% higher than October 2013.
2 The November 2013 seasonally adjusted estimate of resident departures is 2.9% lower than October 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 financial year 2006-07, there were over 10 million multiple movements accounting for 44% 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 12,050 people who stated they were permanent (settler) arrivals to Australia during October 2013, an increase of 0.9% compared with October 2012 (11,940 movements). People born in India accounted for the largest proportion of settlers (12.9%), followed by people born in China (11.8%), New Zealand (11.5%) and the United Kingdom (9.1%).

There were 6,120 Australian residents who stated their intention was to depart permanently from Australia during October 2013, which decreased 8.3% when compared with October 2012 (6,670 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.