AUGUST KEY FIGURES

		Aug '12	Jul '12 to Aug '12	Aug '11 to Aug '12
		'000	% change	% change
Short-term visitor arrivals
	Trend	506.3	0.1	2.3
	Seasonally adjusted	514.1	3.7	. .
	Original	497.5	. .	. .
Short-term resident departures
	Trend	689.2	0.2	4.7
	Seasonally adjusted	683.3	-0.2	. .
	Original	667.1	. .	. .
. . not applicable

Visitor arrivals, Short-term

Resident departures, Short-term

AUGUST KEY POINTS


SHORT-TERM VISITOR ARRIVALS TO AUSTRALIA

• Trend estimates: Short-term visitor arrivals during August 2012 (506,300 movements) increased 0.1% compared with July 2012 (505,600 movements). This followed monthly increases of 0.1% in both June 2012 and July 2012. The current trend estimate for arrivals is 2.3% higher than in August 2011.
• Seasonally adjusted estimates: During August 2012, short-term visitor arrivals (514,100 movements) recorded an increase of 3.7% compared with July 2012 (495,800 movements). This followed a monthly increase of 2.7% in June 2012 and a decrease of 2.9% in July 2012.
• Original estimates: There were 497,500 short-term visitor arrivals to Australia in August 2012.

SHORT-TERM RESIDENT DEPARTURES FROM AUSTRALIA

• Trend estimates: Short-term resident departures during August 2012 (689,200 movements) increased 0.2% compared with July 2012 (687,700 movements). This followed monthly increases of 0.5% in June 2012 and 0.3% in July 2012. The current trend estimate for departures is 4.7% higher than in August 2011.
• Seasonally adjusted estimates: During August 2012, short-term resident departures (683,300 movements) decreased 0.2% compared with July 2012 (684,500 movements). This followed a monthly increase of 1.7% in June 2012 and a monthly decrease of 1.4% in July 2012.
• Original estimates: There were 667,100 short-term resident departures from Australia during August 2012.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
September 2012	6 November 2012
October 2012	5 December 2012
November 2012	14 January 2013
December 2012	6 February 2013
January 2013	7 March 2013
February 2013	9 April 2013

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.


CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

May and June 2012 arrivals and departures data has been revised in this issue. Investigations by the ABS and DIAC uncovered a processing lag in passenger cards, in particular from Australian seaports. While DIAC and the ABS endeavour to ensure the quality and usability of OAD data, there can often be variability in the accuracy of data by seaport each month. This is usually due to a lag in the delivery and processing of passenger cards from various Australian seaports. The ABS advises that OAD data by seaport should be used with caution. The ABS and DIAC will continue to work together to find future improvements in delivery and processing of passenger cards from seaports, For further information see Appendix 2 Data Quality Issues.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Holly Bell on Canberra (02) 6252 6400.