DECEMBER KEY FIGURES

		Dec '09	Nov '09 to Dec '09	Dec '08 to Dec '09
		'000	% change	% change
Short-term visitor arrivals
	Trend	486.5	1.0	6.4
	Seasonally adjusted	486.6	2.7	. .
	Original	648.2	. .	. .
Short-term resident departures
	Trend	np	np	np
	Seasonally adjusted	548.2	-3.1	. .
	Original	731.2	. .	. .
. . not applicable
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated

Visitor arrivals, Short-term

Resident departures, Short-term

DECEMBER KEY POINTS


SHORT-TERM VISITOR ARRIVALS

• Trend estimates: Short-term visitor arrivals to Australia during December 2009 (486,500 movements) increased 1.0% compared with November 2009 (481,500 movements). This followed monthly increases of 1.4% for October 2009 and 1.2% for November 2009.
• Currently, trend estimates for arrivals are 6.4% higher than in December 2008.
• Seasonally adjusted estimates: During December 2009, arrivals (486,600 movements) recorded an increase of 2.7% compared with November 2009 (473,800 movements). This followed a monthly increase of 0.4% for October 2009 and a monthly decrease of 1.8% for November 2009.
• Original estimates: There were 648,200 arrivals to Australia in December 2009.

SHORT-TERM RESIDENT DEPARTURES

• Trend estimates: The trend estimates series has been suspended for April 2009 and onwards. For further information please see the SUSPENSION OF SHORT-TERM RESIDENT DEPARTURES TREND ESTIMATES section on the NOTES page of this issue.
• Seasonally adjusted estimates: During December 2009, departures (548,200 movements) decreased by 3.1% compared with November 2009 (565,700 movements). This followed a monthly increase of 7.4% for October 2009 and a monthly decrease of 1.1% for November 2009.
• Original estimates: There were 731,200 departures from Australia during December 2009.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
January 2010	5 March 2010
February 2010	7 April 2010
March 2010	10 May 2010
April 2010	4 June 2010
May 2010	6 July 2010
June 2010	4 August 2010

DATA NOTES

This publication contains overseas movement data which should not be interpreted as 'persons'. See paragraph 5 of the Explanatory Notes for more detail.

The statistics in this publication have been rounded to the nearest 100 for short-term movements and to the nearest 10 for permanent and long-term movements. As a result, sums of the components may not add exactly to totals. Analysis featured in this publication is based on unrounded data. Calculations made on rounded data may differ to those published.


SUSPENSION OF SHORT-TERM RESIDENT DEPARTURES TREND ESTIMATES

The trend estimates have been suspended from April 2009 for all Short-term Resident Departures (STRD) series. The trend estimates will be reintroduced when more stability emerges in the underlying behaviour of passenger movements.

The trend series attempts to measure the underlying behaviour in passenger movements. In the short term, this measurement may be significantly affected by unusual influences in the original and seasonally adjusted data, like those observed between April 2009 and December 2009 for STRDs. If the trend estimates in the publication were to be calculated without fully accounting for these unusual influences, they would be likely to provide a misleading view of the underlying trend in activity. Further, if passenger movements in subsequent months are influenced by these unusual influences, it may be some time before the underlying behaviour of the series can be reliably estimated. For more details on trend estimates, please see paragraph 23 of the Explanatory Notes.

Appropriate seasonally adjusted estimates can be produced and will continue to be published as usual.


SHORT-TERM VISITOR ARRIVALS TREND ESTIMATES

WARNING: Caution should be used when interpreting recent Short-term Visitor Arrivals trend estimates as they may be affected by unusual economic or other factors.


CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

A feature article, INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENTS - 2009 is included in this issue.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Anne Ward on Canberra (02) 6252 6871.