MARCH KEY FIGURES

		Mar '08	Feb '08 to Mar '08	Mar '07 to Mar '08
		'000	% change	% change
Short-term visitor arrivals
	Trend	468.0	-	-1.3
	Seasonally adjusted	466.4	-1.3	. .
	Original	513.7	. .	. .
Short-term resident departures
	Trend	479.3	0.4	9.7
	Seasonally adjusted	482.6	2.4	. .
	Original	459.2	. .	. .
. . not applicable
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)

Visitor arrivals, Short-term

Resident departures, Short-term

MARCH KEY POINTS


SHORT-TERM VISITOR ARRIVALS

• Trend estimates: Short-term visitor arrivals to Australia have changed little over the last six months, with March 2008 recording 468,000 movements.
• Currently, trend estimates for arrivals are 1.3% lower than in March 2007.
• Seasonally adjusted estimates: During March 2008, arrivals (466,400 movements) decreased by 1.3% compared with February 2008 (472,500 movements). This followed a monthly decrease of 0.6% for January 2008 and a monthly increase of 1.6% for February 2008.
• Original estimates: There were 513,700 arrivals to Australia in March 2008.

SHORT-TERM RESIDENT DEPARTURES

• Trend estimates: Short-term resident departures from Australia during March 2008 (479,300 movements), increased 0.4% compared with February 2008 (477,600 movements). This followed monthly increases of 0.4% for January 2008 and 0.3% for February 2008.
• Currently, trend estimates for departures are 9.7% higher than in March 2007.
• Seasonally adjusted estimates: During March 2008, departures (482,600 movements) increased 2.4% compared with February 2008 (471,200 movements). This followed monthly decreases of 2.2% for January 2008 and 0.3% for February 2008.
• Original estimates: There were 459,200 departures from Australia during March 2008.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
April 2008	4 June 2008
May 2008	7 July 2008
June 2008	5 August 2008
July 2008	4 September 2008
August 2008	3 October 2008
September 2008	6 November 2008

EARLY ESTIMATES

Early estimates of short-term visitor arrivals for April 2008 will be available on the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) website on 16 May 2008. These estimates can be accessed by going to the ABS website at <https://www.abs.gov.au>. Select All statistics - Access to all ABS products & statistics, then By Catalogue Number, then 3. Demography, then 34. Migration. Choose Short-term Visitor Arrival Estimates, Australia (cat. no. 3401.0.55.001).


DATA NOTES

This publication contains movement data. Care should be taken when interpreting this movement data as 'people'. 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 the Key Points and Main Features of this publication is based on unrounded data. Calculations made on rounded data may differ to those published.


CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

There are no changes 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.