MAY KEY FIGURES

		May '18	Apr '18 to May '18	May '17 to May '18
		'000	% change	% change
Short-term visitor arrivals
	Trend	763.7	0.3	3.7
	Seasonally adjusted	766.3	1.4	..
	Original	609.3	..	..
Short-term resident returns
	Trend	929.5	1.1	5.5
	Seasonally adjusted	938.8	1.2	..
	Original	822.2	..	..
.. not applicable

Visitor arrivals, Short-term

Resident returns, Short-term

MAY KEY POINTS

SHORT-TERM VISITOR ARRIVALS TO AUSTRALIA

• Trend estimates: Short-term visitor arrivals during May 2018 (763,700 movements) increased 0.3% when compared with April 2018 (761,600 movements). This followed monthly increases of 0.3% for both March and April 2018. The current trend estimate for arrivals is 3.7% higher than in May 2017.
• Seasonally adjusted estimates: During May 2018, short-term visitor arrivals (766,300 movements) increased 1.4% when compared with April 2018 (755,800 movements). This followed a monthly increase of 2.8% in March 2018 and a monthly decrease of 2.0% in April 2018.
• Original estimates: There were 609,300 short-term visitor arrivals to Australia in May 2018.

SHORT-TERM RESIDENT RETURNS TO AUSTRALIA

• Trend estimates: Short-term resident returns during May 2018 (929, 500 movements) increased 1.1% when compared with April 2018 (919,800 movements). This followed monthly increases of 1.1% for both March and April 2018. The current trend estimate for returns is 5.5% higher than in May 2017.
• Seasonally adjusted estimates: During May 2018, short-term resident returns (938,800 movements) increased 1.2% when compared with April 2018 (927,700 movements). This followed monthly increases of 4.3% in March 2018 and 1.6% in April 2018.
• Original estimates: There were 822,200 short-term resident returns to Australia in May 2018.

NOTES


FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
June 2018	20 August 2018
July 2018	17 September 2018
August 2018	17 October 2018
September 2018	19 November 2018
October 2018	17 December 2018
November 2018	18 January 2019
December 2018	19 February 2019
January 2019	15 March 2019
February 2019	11 April 2019
March 2019	13 May 2019
April 2019	12 June 2019
May 2019	12 July 2019

DATA NOTES

The ABS has identified a data quality issue with state or territory of stay/residence for the period April to May 2018, with estimates for the Australian Capital Territory higher than usual. This is being investigated further by Home Affairs in collaboration with the ABS. Until the issue is resolved, users should exercise caution when comparing statistics for state or territory of stay/residence for this period with previous periods.

In July 2017, the Australian Government Department of Home Affairs introduced changes to the incoming passenger card. The change was to capture the main reason for journey for both residents returning, and visitors arriving in Australia. The ABS has noted changes in the distribution of responses to the question on main reason for journey for short-term visitor arrivals in recent months, notably an increase in the number of persons reporting that the main reason for travel was visiting friends and relatives and a decline in the number of persons reporting the main reason was a holiday. The ABS is investigating possible explanations for these changes.

This release contains overseas movement data which should not be interpreted as 'persons'. See paragraph 7 of the Explanatory Notes for more detail.

The statistics in this release have been rounded. See paragraph 33 of the Explanatory Notes for more detail.


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