3401.0 - Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia, 2001  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 20/12/2001   
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Special Article - Where do Australian's go for Holidays?


During 1999-2000 1.5 million Australian residents, or 45% of all Australian resident short-term departures, went overseas on a short-term holiday (Australian residents who intended to stay abroad for less than 12 months and whose main reason for journey was a holiday). This was an increase of 3% compared with 1998-99 and an increase of 38% compared with a decade ago. Over the past 20 years it has been more common for Australian females to take short-term holidays than Australian males, with an average annual percentage of 53% for females and 47% for males. In 1999-2000 this pattern continued, with 54% of short-term residents departing for holidays being female.


DESTINATION OF HOLIDAY

The main holiday destinations for Australian residents have remained quite consistent over the past decade, with nine of the top ten main destinations in 1999-2000 also being in the top ten in 1989-90.

The top ten main destinations for Australians going on a short-term holiday in 1999-2000 were Indonesia, which includes Bali (13%), New Zealand (12%), the United States of America (11%), the United Kingdom (10%), Thailand (7%), Fiji (5%), Malaysia (4%), Singapore (4%), Hong Kong (3%) and Italy (2%). There was little difference between males and females in the order of these countries with the exception of males holidaying to Canada more frequently than Italy.

New Zealand and Thailand were the only two countries in the top ten to have more male Australian residents holidaying there than female Australian residents, with sex ratios of 104 males per 100 female Australian residents departing and 102 males per 100 females respectively.

MAIN DESTINATIONS FOR AUSTRALIAN RESIDENTS DEPARTING ON HOLIDAYS
1989-901999-2000
RankCountry
%
Sex ratio
Country % Sex ratio1
1
United States of America
14.3
95.1
Indonesia
13.0
93.3
2
United Kingdom
11.3
77.6
New Zealand
12.1
104.2
3
Indonesia
11.1
87.6
United States of America
11.1
87.4
4
New Zealand
10.6
96.0
United Kingdom
9.7
81.4
5
Fiji
7.1
95.6
Thailand
7.2
102.4
6
Thailand
6.6
99.2
Fiji
5.0
86.1
7
Singapore
6.3
72.6
Malaysia
4.1
91.1
8
Hong Kong
5.4
70.9
Singapore
3.8
77.0
9
Malaysia
3.3
92.7
Hong Kong
3.5
66.5
10
Greece
1.7
93.1
Italy
2.4
74.7
Total
100.0
90.1
Total
100.0
89.7
1. The sex ratio relates to the number of males per 100 females


INTENDED DURATION OF HOLIDAY

The median intended duration of stay (the duration at which half the Australian residents stayed less time overseas on their holiday and half stayed longer) for all short-term holiday travellers was 15.0 days.

The United Kingdom and Italy, two of the most distant holiday destinations, were the two main destinations where Australian holiday travellers intended to stay the longest (with a median of 35.3 and 30.6 days respectively), while Australians visiting Singapore had the shortest intended duration of stay (9.2 days).

There are some small differences between the median intended duration of stay for males and females for individual countries with males staying slightly longer in Thailand and Hong Kong.


AGE OF HOLIDAY TRAVELLERS

The median age of holiday travellers (the age at which half of the Australian holiday travellers were younger and half were older) was 38.0 years. Male holiday travellers had a higher median age than females at 38.3 years, 0.7 years older than female travellers (37.6 years).

Of those Australian residents holidaying in the top ten destination countries, travellers to Fiji had the lowest median age (33.6 overall and 35.7 years for males and 32.4 years for females). Travellers to Singapore had the highest median age (43.8 years), while females travelling to Singapore had the highest median age of all female holiday makers (44.1 years). The highest median age for all male holiday travellers was 44.5 years for those holidaying in Italy.


SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS, 1999-2000
MEDIAN AGE (YEARS)
MEDIAN DURATION
Destination
Males
Females
Persons
Males
Females
Persons
Indonesia
36.3
34.0
35.0
10.6
10.3
10.5
United States of America
35.5
37.2
36.3
20.6
20.9
20.8
United Kingdom
38.8
41.8
40.4
35.4
35.3
35.3
Thailand
38.9
33.7
36.3
14.3
12.7
13.7
Fiji
35.7
32.4
33.6
10.0
9.5
9.7
Malaysia
40.6
37.0
38.4
12.4
12.2
12.3
Singapore
43.2
44.1
43.8
9.3
9.2
9.2
Hong Kong
40.4
41.6
41.3
12.6
11.0
11.6
Italy
44.5
41.6
43.2
30.5
30.7
30.6
All Countries
38.3
37.6
38.0
15.1
14.9
15.0