MEDIA RELEASE
1 May 2015	Embargo: 11.30 am (Canberra time)	52/2015

There were 716,000 Australian short-term travellers departing in March 2015, according to preliminary estimates released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). This follows preliminary estimates of 551,500 short-term resident departures in February and 686,600 in January 2015.

Preliminary estimates of short-term overseas visitor arrivals to Australia numbered 671,600 in March 2015. This follows preliminary estimates of 715,200 short-term visitor arrivals in February and 539,100 in January 2015.

A number of regular monthly releases of Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia (cat. no. 3401.0) have been delayed due to passenger card processing issues as announced by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP). These preliminary estimates have therefore been modelled by the ABS using other traveller information data from DIBP. No seasonally adjusted or trend data are available in this preliminary release.

The regular supply of passenger card data by DIBP to the ABS has been resumed over recent months and the final, full set of monthly statistics for January, February and March 2015 will be released in June. Normal monthly releases will resume with the May 2015 release on 7 July.

Further information can be found in Preliminary Estimates of Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia, Jan to Mar 2015 (cat. no. 3401.0.30.001) available for free download from the ABS website - https://www.abs.gov.au.

Media notes:

• Short-term visitor arrivals are overseas visitors who intend to stay in Australia for less than 12 months.
• Short-term resident departures are Australian residents who intend to stay abroad for less than 12 months.
• When reporting ABS data the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or ABS) must be attributed as the source.
• Media requests and interviews - contact the ABS Communications Section on 1300 175 070.