3401.0 - Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia, Dec 2012 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 06/02/2013   
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MEDIA RELEASE
6 February 2013
Embargo: 11.30 am (Canberra Time)
16/2013
Australia triples in popularity with Chinese and Indian visitors

Over the last ten years, people from China and India more than tripled their visits to Australia breaking all previous records, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

China went from 190,000 visits in 2002 to 630,000 in 2012, and India from 45,000 to 160,000.

Other countries in Australia's top ten visitors list include Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea & Hong Kong - meaning Asian countries are now seven of our top ten source countries for short term visits to Australia.

Assistant Director of Demography, Neil Scott said "Despite a high Australian dollar, Australia's short term visitor numbers were up by nearly five per cent since 2011 with 6.1 million short trips made to Australia - 270,000 more than we saw in 2011."

"New Zealand remains our biggest source of overseas short-term visitor arrivals with 1.2 million trips in 2012 or one in five visitors coming from there, but China is now in second place with one in ten, followed by the UK, the USA and Japan.

"The top five countries alone provided more than half of last years overseas visitors, and there were an extra 85,000 visits from China - an increase of 16 per cent. The next largest increase in visitor numbers came from Malaysia, with a nine per cent increase.

"New South Wales remained the most popular destination with a record 2.3 million overseas visitors in 2012, claiming more than one-third of all short-term visitor arrivals to Australia.

"This was followed by Queensland at one-quarter and Victoria with just over one-fifth.

"More than two-thirds - or about 4.3 million overseas visitors - came here for holidays or to see friends and family, and the peak age group for short term visitors was 25-29 year olds.

"Interestingly, the average amount of time people spent in Australia was 11 days, which has been constant over the last ten years," Mr Scott said.

Further information can be found in Overseas Arrivals and Departures, December 2012 (cat. no. 3401.0) available for free from the ABS web site <www.abs.gov.au>.

Media Note:
    • Short-term visitor arrivals are overseas visitors who intend to stay in Australia for less than 12 months.
    • Figures in this media release are based on original series.
    • Please ensure when reporting on ABS data that you attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.


Short-term visitor arrivals, Australia - calendar years by country of residence
Country of residence (a)
2002
2007
2012
'000
%
'000
%
'000
%
1New Zealand
790.1
16.3
1138.0
20.2
1201.2
19.5
2China (excludes SARs and Taiwan Province)
190.0
3.9
357.6
6.3
626.5
10.2
3UK, CI & IOM (b)
642.7
13.3
689.0
12.2
593.8
9.7
4United States of America
434.5
9.0
459.7
8.1
479.0
7.8
5Japan
715.5
14.8
573.0
10.2
354.0
5.8
6Singapore
286.9
5.9
263.8
4.7
343.7
5.6
7Malaysia
159.0
3.3
159.4
2.8
262.6
4.3
8Korea Republic of (South)
189.7
3.9
253.3
4.5
196.7
3.2
9Hong Kong (SAR of China)
150.9
3.1
147.0
2.6
176.7
2.9
10India
45.0
0.9
95.2
1.7
159.3
2.6
All Other Countries
1237.0
25.6
1508.1
26.7
1752.2
28.5
Total
4841.2
100.0
5644.1
100.0
6145.6
100.0
(a) Top 10 source countries based on original estimates.
(b) United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man.



Short-term Visitor Arrivals, Australia - calendar years by age groups
2002
2007
2012
Age group
(years)
'000
%
'000
%
'000
%
0–4
94.8
2.0
117.6
2.1
133.0
2.2
5–9
118.3
2.4
140.2
2.5
139.3
2.3
10–14
164.9
3.4
189.7
3.4
180.2
2.9
15–19
271.3
5.6
322.5
5.7
304.4
5.0
20–24
454.7
9.4
512.9
9.1
602.4
9.8
25–29
571.1
11.8
596.3
10.6
677.8
11.0
30–34
515.8
10.7
531.2
9.4
580.8
9.5
35–39
449.5
9.3
510.2
9.0
488.4
7.9
40–44
422.3
8.7
494.2
8.8
495.8
8.1
45–49
406.1
8.4
487.7
8.6
515.1
8.4
50–54
409.9
8.5
472.0
8.4
522.7
8.5
55–59
341.6
7.1
442.5
7.8
500.7
8.1
60–64
267.8
5.5
349.1
6.2
424.8
6.9
65–69
178.8
3.7
245.0
4.3
301.1
4.9
70–74
99.9
2.1
131.9
2.3
164.3
2.7
75 and over
74.5
1.5
101.1
1.8
114.9
1.9
Total
4841.2
100.0
5644.1
100.0
6145.6
100.0



Short-term resident departures, Australia - calendar years by country of destination
Country of destination (a)
2002
2007
2012
'000
%
'000
%
'000
%
1New Zealand
597.3
17.3
902.0
16.5
1103.3
13.4
2Indonesia
241.7
7.0
282.5
5.2
911.8
11.1
3United States of America
299.1
8.6
479.0
8.8
863.6
10.5
4Thailand
168.9
4.9
374.5
6.9
622.3
7.6
5UK, CI & IOM (b)
318.3
9.2
428.4
7.8
489.1
6.0
6China (excludes SARs and Taiwan Province)
136.9
4.0
284.5
5.2
381.1
4.6
7Fiji
128.3
3.7
200.4
3.7
332.5
4.0
8Singapore
149.2
4.3
221.5
4.1
306.5
3.7
9Malaysia
109.5
3.2
181.2
3.3
259.4
3.2
10Hong Kong (SAR of China)
140.5
4.1
206.5
3.8
229.4
2.8
All other countries
1171.3
33.8
1901.8
34.8
2720.9
33.1
Total
3461.0
100.0
5462.3
100.0
8219.8
100.0
(a) Top 10 source countries based on original estimates.
(b) United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man.




Short-term movement (a), visitor departures -
State where spent most time, 2012
State
'000
%
New South Wales
2,319.4
37.4
Victoria
1,298.3
20.9
Queensland
1,541.7
24.9
South Australia
189.4
3.1
Western Australia
668.0
10.8
Tasmania
55.1
0.9
Northern Territory
66.3
1.1
Australian Capital Territory
62.7
1.0
Other Territories
0.5
0.0
Total
6,201.5
100.0

(a) Figures for characteristics of short-term movements are based on a sample and are subject to sampling error. See paragraphs 10 and 11 of Explanatory Notes for more detail.