This electronic release contains modelled estimates of short-term visitor arrivals to Australia based on passport transactions for the current month and passenger card disaggregations from earlier months. There is no printed publication available for this release, however, it is closely related to the monthly publication, Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia (cat. no. 3401.0).
NOTES
DATA NOTES
The estimates presented in this publication provide an early indication of short-term visitor arrival movements prior to final data becoming available for the reference month. Monthly data prior to the reference month are final estimates. The ABS encourages users of these data to refer to the ABS monthly publication, Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia (cat. no. 3401.0) for final ABS estimates of short-term visitor arrivals for the reference period. Final estimates for January 2004 will be released on 16 March 2004.
This publication contains movement data. Care should be taken when interpreting this movement data as 'people'. See paragraph 6 of the Explanatory Notes for more detail.
Calculations of percentage and numeric change as shown in the Main Features of this publication are based on unrounded data. See paragraph 10 of Explanatory Notes for more detail.
INQUIRIES
For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Chrissy Beruldsen at c.beruldsen@abs.gov.au or telephone (02) 6252 5640.
MAIN FEATURES
TREND ESTIMATES
Trend estimates have been revised to take into account the impact of recent world events. See paragraph 18 of the Explanatory Notes for more detail.
The trend estimate for January 2004 (434,900 movements) is continuing the steady monthly increase in the series since April 2003 and represents a small increase of 0.1% compared with December 2003 (434,700 movements).
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES
According to seasonally adjusted estimates, there were 427,100 short-term visitor arrivals to Australia in January 2004, representing a decrease of 2.6% compared with December 2003 (438,600 movements). This decline follows an increase of 2.8% for November and 0.1% for December 2003.
ORIGINAL ESTIMATES
There were an estimated 417,500 short-term visitor arrivals to Australia during January 2004. This represents an increase of 5.3% compared with January 2003 (396,600 movements).
In January 2004, large numbers of short-term visitor arrivals came from the United Kingdom (62,900 movements), Japan (57,300 movements), New Zealand (52,000 movements), the United States of America (33,300 movements), and China (28,800 movements). Compared with January 2003 the largest percentage increases in short-term visitor arrivals were from the Philippines (up 42% or 500 movements), China (up 38% or 7,900 movements), Malaysia (up 35% or 2,900 movements), and Singapore (up 25% or 3,800 movements).
Visitor arrivals from Southeast and Northeast Asia increased by 19% (or 7,400 movements) and 9% (or 11,300 movements) respectively compared with January 2003. These increases may be associated with Chinese New Year celebrations, which officially began on 22 January 2004. In 2003, the Chinese New Year was celebrated at the start of February.
TABLE 1: SHORT-TERM MOVEMENT: VISITOR ARRIVALS - JANUARY 2004
(a) Trend and seasonally adjusted estimates may be revised each month. See paragraphs 14 and 17 of Explanatory Notes.
TABLE 2: SHORT-TERM MOVEMENT: VISITOR ARRIVALS(a) - COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE
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 |  | Calendar year
|  | Financial year
|  | Quarter ended Dec
|  | January
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 |  | 2002 | 2003 |  | 2001-02 | 2002-03 |  | 2002 | 2003 |  | 2003 | 2004(a) |
 |  | '000 | '000 |  | '000 | '000 |  | '000 | '000 |  | '000 | '000 |
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OCEANIA & ANTARCTICA - |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 | New Zealand | 790.1 | 839.1 |  | 787.7 | 793.1 |  | 213.0 | 243.2 |  | 47.0 | 52.0 |
 | Total | 905.0 | 956.5 |  | 907.5 | 904.7 |  | 243.8 | 277.7 |  | 60.1 | 64.8 |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
EUROPE & THE FORMER USSR - |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 | Germany | 134.8 | 137.9 |  | 136.8 | 134.0 |  | 43.3 | 42.8 |  | 11.7 | 11.5 |
 | Italy | 43.3 | 41.3 |  | 41.1 | 42.5 |  | 14.7 | 13.8 |  | 4.0 | 3.5 |
 | Netherlands | 53.0 | 51.0 |  | 54.6 | 52.1 |  | 18.9 | 16.8 |  | 4.8 | 4.2 |
 | Sweden | 30.9 | 31.8 |  | 30.2 | 31.8 |  | 12.1 | 11.9 |  | 3.8 | 3.3 |
 | Switzerland | 41.5 | 40.9 |  | 43.4 | 41.2 |  | 15.0 | 14.3 |  | 4.6 | 4.3 |
 | United Kingdom | 642.7 | 672.8 |  | 627.1 | 644.2 |  | 224.5 | 243.9 |  | 63.6 | 62.9 |
 | Total | 1180.5 | 1212.0 |  | 1172.2 | 1170.4 |  | 401.5 | 425.2 |  | 112.7 | 110.8 |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA - |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 | Total | 51.5 | 52.7 |  | 56.3 | 50.2 |  | 12.2 | 13.9 |  | 3.7 | 4.2 |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
SOUTHEAST ASIA - |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 | Indonesia | 89.4 | 90.3 |  | 94.7 | 86.9 |  | 25.6 | 29.2 |  | 6.0 | 6.2 |
 | Malaysia | 159.0 | 155.6 |  | 154.3 | 142.4 |  | 44.7 | 50.9 |  | 8.3 | 11.2 |
 | Philippines | 28.5 | 27.0 |  | 29.9 | 25.4 |  | 6.4 | 8.0 |  | 1.3 | 1.8 |
 | Singapore | 286.9 | 253.4 |  | 295.8 | 261.6 |  | 92.1 | 84.9 |  | 15.3 | 19.1 |
 | Thailand | 82.7 | 73.2 |  | 80.0 | 75.5 |  | 19.6 | 18.2 |  | 5.1 | 4.9 |
 | Total | 673.8 | 625.3 |  | 682.7 | 617.7 |  | 195.5 | 198.6 |  | 37.9 | 45.3 |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
NORTHEAST ASIA - |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 | China | 190.0 | 176.1 |  | 172.3 | 177.1 |  | 50.7 | 58.5 |  | 20.8 | 28.8 |
 | Japan | 715.5 | 627.7 |  | 659.2 | 658.6 |  | 196.0 | 192.6 |  | 57.4 | 57.3 |
 | Korea | 189.7 | 207.3 |  | 181.1 | 195.8 |  | 57.4 | 60.0 |  | 26.0 | 25.2 |
 | Taiwan | 97.4 | 87.7 |  | 99.1 | 80.8 |  | 19.1 | 21.9 |  | 9.7 | 9.9 |
 | Total | 1345.5 | 1230.0 |  | 1262.4 | 1254.8 |  | 361.4 | 366.9 |  | 125.4 | 136.7 |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
THE AMERICAS - |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 | Canada | 90.9 | 87.9 |  | 93.0 | 86.5 |  | 27.5 | 28.2 |  | 10.3 | 10.3 |
 | USA | 434.5 | 422.1 |  | 424.4 | 423.5 |  | 114.1 | 112.0 |  | 35.2 | 33.3 |
 | Total | 556.2 | 537.5 |  | 551.1 | 537.1 |  | 149.4 | 148.9 |  | 48.2 | 46.5 |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
AFRICA (excluding North Africa) - |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 | South Africa | 51.0 | 52.7 |  | 55.7 | 47.5 |  | 15.0 | 20.5 |  | 2.8 | 2.8 |
 | Total | 67.3 | 69.2 |  | 72.7 | 62.7 |  | 19.8 | 26.0 |  | 4.1 | 4.2 |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Total(b) | 4841.2 | 4745.9 |  | 4768.3 | 4655.8 |  | 1399.8 | 1475.2 |  | 396.6 | 417.5 |
|
(a) January 2004 data are statistically modelled on passport movements and past arrival trends from passenger cards. Monthly data prior to January 2004 are final estimates based on passenger card data.
(b) Includes Southern Asia and not stated/inadequately described. |