Monthly Travel Services debits (imports) estimates now labelled as preliminary
The ABS is now labelling the monthly estimates of Travel Service debits as preliminary.
Recent changes in traveller spending patterns has increased the uncertainty of monthly Travel Service debit estimates. With this comes a higher risk of revisions. Please use caution when interpreting the preliminary estimates particularly estimates for the latest month.
The ABS calculates monthly estimates by using:
- Overseas Arrivals and Departures (OAD) estimates for the latest month along with an average spend per traveller from the previous month.
- Newly available Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Overseas Card Payments data to replace the OAD-based estimates in the following month. The RBA data captures changes in both number of travellers and spending patterns of Australians overseas.
Quarterly travel services debits published in the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia and the Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product are unaffected as all the data sources are available in time for publishing these estimates.
For more information about the compilation of monthly and quarterly Travel Services please see Enhancing Trade in Services quarterly statistics | Australian Bureau of Statistics (abs.gov.au)