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 March 2004 will be released on 12 May 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 the 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 of short-term visitor arrivals to Australia for March 2004 (422,200 movements) decreased by 0.8% compared with February 2004 (425,700 movements) and followed decreases of 0.6% for January and February 2004.
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES
According to seasonally adjusted estimates, there were 420,800 short-term visitor arrivals to Australia during March 2004, representing an increase of 0.4% compared with the previous month (419,200 movements) and follows a decrease of 1.4% between January and February 2004.
ORIGINAL ESTIMATES
There were an estimated 430,900 short-term visitor arrivals to Australia during March 2004. This represents an increase of 9.8% compared with March 2003 (392,500 movements). However, the original time series is affected by such events as the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and the anticipation and commencement of military action in Iraq, which resulted in fewer than usual visitor arrivals for the first half of 2003. Compared with March 2002 (446,500 movements), short-term visitor arrivals for March 2004 decreased by 3.5% or 15,600 movements.
In March 2004, large numbers of short-term visitor arrivals came from New Zealand (76,000 movements), the United Kingdom (67,600 movements), Japan (63,400 movements) and the United States of America (37,400 movements). Compared with March 2003 the largest increase in short-term visitor arrivals was from New Zealand (up 31% or 17,800 movements), followed by the United Kingdom (up 9% or 5,800 movements).
TABLE 1: SHORT-TERM MOVEMENT: VISITOR ARRIVALS - MARCH 2004
|
 |  | Feb 04 | Mar 03 |
 | Mar | to Mar | to Mar |
 | 04 | 04 | 04 |
 |  | % | % |
 | '000 | change | change |
Short-term visitor arrivals |
|
Trend(a) | 422.2 | -0.8 | .. |
Seasonally adjusted(a) | 420.8 | 0.4 | .. |
Original | 430.9 | .. | 9.8 |
|
(a) Trend and seasonally adjusted estimates may be revised each month. See paragraphs 14 and 17 of the Explanatory Notes.
TABLE 2: SHORT-TERM MOVEMENT: VISITOR ARRIVALS(a) - COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE
|
 |  | Calendar year
|  | Financial year
|  | Quarter ended Mar
|  | March
|
 |  | 2002 | 2003 |  | 2001-02 | 2002-03 |  | 2003 | 2004 |  | 2003 | 2004(a) |
 |  | '000 | '000 |  | '000 | '000 |  | '000 | '000 |  | '000 | '000 |
|
OCEANIA & ANTARCTICA - |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 | New Zealand | 790.1 | 839.1 |  | 787.7 | 793.1 |  | 150.7 | 188.6 |  | 58.2 | 76.0 |
 | Total | 905.0 | 956.5 |  | 907.5 | 904.7 |  | 181.2 | 220.4 |  | 67.1 | 84.6 |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
EUROPE & THE FORMER USSR - |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 | Germany | 134.8 | 137.9 |  | 136.8 | 134.0 |  | 38.8 | 40.1 |  | 13.3 | 12.5 |
 | Italy | 43.3 | 41.3 |  | 41.1 | 42.5 |  | 10.1 | 10.2 |  | 2.7 | 3.0 |
 | Netherlands | 53.0 | 51.0 |  | 54.6 | 52.1 |  | 14.9 | 13.9 |  | 4.6 | 4.2 |
 | Sweden | 30.9 | 31.8 |  | 30.2 | 31.8 |  | 10.2 | 10.7 |  | 2.6 | 2.8 |
 | Switzerland | 41.5 | 40.9 |  | 43.4 | 41.2 |  | 12.5 | 12.0 |  | 3.7 | 3.2 |
 | United Kingdom | 642.7 | 672.8 |  | 627.1 | 644.2 |  | 196.3 | 204.7 |  | 61.8 | 67.6 |
 | Total | 1180.5 | 1212.0 |  | 1172.2 | 1170.4 |  | 344.2 | 359.0 |  | 106.5 | 111.7 |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA - |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 | Total | 51.5 | 52.7 |  | 56.3 | 50.2 |  | 12.1 | 13.3 |  | 4.3 | 4.5 |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
SOUTHEAST ASIA - |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 | Indonesia | 89.4 | 90.3 |  | 94.7 | 86.9 |  | 19.9 | 21.4 |  | 6.1 | 6.6 |
 | Malaysia | 159.0 | 155.6 |  | 154.3 | 142.4 |  | 33.2 | 39.3 |  | 9.8 | 13.7 |
 | Philippines | 28.5 | 27.0 |  | 29.9 | 25.4 |  | 5.5 | 7.4 |  | 2.5 | 3.1 |
 | Singapore | 286.9 | 253.4 |  | 295.8 | 261.6 |  | 58.3 | 52.5 |  | 21.0 | 19.4 |
 | Thailand | 82.7 | 73.2 |  | 80.0 | 75.5 |  | 18.7 | 19.5 |  | 7.7 | 8.8 |
 | Total | 673.8 | 625.3 |  | 682.7 | 617.7 |  | 141.9 | 147.0 |  | 49.1 | 54.2 |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
NORTHEAST ASIA - |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 | China | 190.0 | 176.1 |  | 172.3 | 177.1 |  | 62.1 | 70.4 |  | 14.3 | 15.8 |
 | Japan | 715.5 | 627.7 |  | 659.2 | 658.6 |  | 176.1 | 184.9 |  | 59.9 | 63.4 |
 | Korea | 189.7 | 207.3 |  | 181.1 | 195.8 |  | 60.2 | 60.6 |  | 16.3 | 15.4 |
 | Taiwan | 97.4 | 87.7 |  | 99.1 | 80.8 |  | 25.8 | 25.7 |  | 6.5 | 7.1 |
 | Total | 1345.5 | 1230.0 |  | 1262.4 | 1254.8 |  | 358.3 | 379.0 |  | 106.8 | 114.3 |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
THE AMERICAS - |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 | Canada | 90.9 | 87.9 |  | 93.0 | 86.5 |  | 29.0 | 30.8 |  | 8.5 | 9.0 |
 | USA | 434.5 | 422.1 |  | 424.4 | 423.5 |  | 112.9 | 113.6 |  | 37.4 | 37.4 |
 | Total | 556.2 | 537.5 |  | 551.1 | 537.1 |  | 149.3 | 152.4 |  | 48.1 | 48.8 |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
AFRICA (excluding North Africa) - |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 | South Africa | 51.0 | 52.7 |  | 55.7 | 47.5 |  | 10.7 | 12.5 |  | 4.5 | 5.2 |
 | Total | 67.3 | 69.2 |  | 72.7 | 62.7 |  | 14.6 | 16.9 |  | 5.5 | 6.6 |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Total(b) | 4841.2 | 4745.9 |  | 4768.3 | 4655.8 |  | 1216.6 | 1305.9 |  | 392.5 | 430.9 |
|
(a) March 2004 data are statistically modelled on passport movements and past arrival trends from passenger cards. Monthly data prior to March 2004 are final estimates based on passenger card data.
(b) Includes Southern Asia and not stated/inadequately described. |