AUSTRALIAN RESIDENT DEPARTURES
In the year ended December 2008 there was a record 5.8 million short-term resident departures (graph 23.11), the highest number of resident departures ever recorded for a calendar year.
23.11 Short-term movements(a), Resident departures
![Graph: 23.11 Short-term movements(a), Resident departures](/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/29ab312de9511a3aca25773700169cde/Body/0.304!OpenElement&FieldElemFormat=gif)
The top destinations for Australian residents departing short term during 2008 were New Zealand (921,100 departures), the United States of America (492,300), the United Kingdom, Channel Islands & Isle of Man (420,300), Thailand (404,100) and Indonesia (380,700) (table 23.12).
Between 2007 and 2008 the number of short-term resident departures to Indonesia increased by 35%, and to Fiji by 18%. Short-term departures to China fell by 3%, from 284,300 to 277,300.
23.12 SHORT-TERM RESIDENT DEPARTURES, By major destinations |
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![](/icons/ecblank.gif) | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
![](/icons/ecblank.gif) | ’000 | ’000 | ’000 | '000 | '000 |
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New Zealand | 815.8 | 835.7 | 864.7 | 902.1 | 921.1 |
United States of America | 376.0 | 426.4 | 440.3 | 479.1 | 492.3 |
United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man | 375.1 | 404.4 | 412.8 | 428.5 | 420.3 |
Thailand | 188.0 | 202.9 | 288.0 | 374.4 | 404.1 |
Indonesia | 335.2 | 319.9 | 194.9 | 282.6 | 380.7 |
China (excl. SARs and Taiwan Province) | 182.0 | 235.0 | 251.0 | 284.3 | 277.3 |
Fiji | 175.2 | 196.9 | 202.4 | 200.3 | 236.2 |
Singapore | 158.9 | 188.5 | 210.9 | 221.5 | 217.8 |
Hong Kong (SAR of China) | 152.6 | 185.7 | 196.3 | 206.5 | 213.1 |
Malaysia | 144.3 | 160.0 | 168.0 | 181.3 | 191.0 |
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Source: ABS Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia (3401.0). |