MAIN FEATURES


SHORT-TERM VISITOR ARRIVALS

In trend terms, short-term visitor arrivals to Australia during February 2014 (562,600 movements) increased 0.6% when compared with January 2014 (559,000 movements). Currently, short-term visitor arrivals are 9.6% higher than in February 2013.

The following table presents the top ten source countries (based on original estimates) for short-term visitor arrivals during February 2014. When trend estimates for short-term visitor arrivals for February 2013 and February 2014 were compared, the highest percentage increase was recorded for Malaysia (29.2%) followed by Hong Kong (26.2%). The only percentage decrease was recorded for Japan (3.1%).

Short-term Visitor Arrivals, Australia - February 2014
	Trend	Seasonally Adjusted	Original	Jan '14 to Feb'14(b)	Feb '13 to Feb '14(b)
Country of Residence(a)	'000	'000	'000	Trend % change	Trend % change
China	63.2	64.9	103.1	1.6	10.1
New Zealand	105.4	106.5	78.5	1.3	5.9
UK, CIs & IOM(c)	55.2	55.7	75.0	1.1	10.0
United States of America	46.3	47.5	57.2	1.4	12.2
Japan	26.5	26.6	31.2	-0.3	-3.1
Singapore	31.1	30.2	24.1	0.5	22.5
Malaysia	25.9	22.2	23.8	-1.4	29.2
Germany	15.8	16.2	21.8	1.7	13.7
Korea, South	16.8	16.7	18.7	-0.5	2.9
Hong Kong	17.6	17.4	18.4	0.9	26.2
(a) Top 10 source countries based on original estimates. (b) Data revised from July 2004 to December 2013. For information see Explanatory Notes 12 & 13.
(c) United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man.

'What if'....? Future scenarios

The most recent trend estimates for short-term visitor arrivals are likely to be revised when the next month's seasonally adjusted estimates become available. To assist in analysing these movement trends, the approximate effects of two possible scenarios on the previous trend estimate of short-term visitor arrivals are presented:

1 The March 2014 seasonally adjusted estimate of visitor arrivals is 2.2% higher than February 2014.
2 The March 2014 seasonally adjusted estimate of visitor arrivals is 2.2% lower than February 2014.

The figure of 2.4% for visitor arrivals represents the average absolute monthly percentage change for visitor arrivals over the last ten years. For further information on the effect of new seasonally adjusted estimates on short-term visitor arrival trend estimates, see paragraph 30 of the Explanatory Notes.


SHORT-TERM RESIDENT DEPARTURES

In trend terms, short-term resident departures from Australia during February 2014 (749,700 movements) increased 0.1% when compared with January 2014 (748,700 movements). Currently, short-term resident departures are 6.7% higher than in February 2013.

The following table presents the top ten destination countries (based on original estimates) for short-term resident departures in February 2014. When trend estimates for short-term resident departures for February 2013 and February 2014 were compared, the highest percentage increase was recorded for Singapore (27.3%), followed by Malaysia (21.2%). The highest percentage decrease was recorded for Thailand (4.5%), followed by the United States of America (0.2%).

Short-term Resident Departures, Australia - February 2014
	Trend	Seasonally Adjusted	Original	Jan '14 to Feb '14(b)	Feb '13 to Feb '14
Country of Stay(a)	'000	'000	'000	Trend % change	Trend % change
New Zealand	102.1	102.9	101.9	0.7	6.8
Indonesia	84.2	83.2	60.6	0.5	11.2
United States of America	74.8	72.2	48.2	-1.7	-0.2
Thailand	50.3	50.2	40.1	-0.8	-4.5
Singapore	34.1	35.2	28.4	2.7	27.3
Japan	20.0	20.6	23.3	3.9	20.1
China	34.5	33.4	22.3	0.1	3.7
India	21.4	18.7	20.5	-1.0	11.8
Malaysia	26.2	21.9	17.2	0.6	21.2
Fiji	26.5	27.6	15.9	-0.4	2.2
(a) Top 10 destination countries based on original estimates. (b) Data revised from July 2004 to December 2013. For information see Explanatory Notes 12 & 13.

'What if'....? Future scenarios

The most recent trend estimates for short-term resident departures are likely to be revised when the next month's seasonally adjusted estimates become available. To assist in analysing these movement trends, the approximate effects of two possible scenarios on the previous trend estimate of short-term resident departures are presented:

1 The March 2014 seasonally adjusted estimate of resident departures is 2.4% higher than February 2014.
2 The March 2014 seasonally adjusted estimate of resident departures is 2.4% lower than February 2014.

The figure of 2.9% for resident departures represents the average absolute monthly percentage change for resident departures over the last ten years. For further information on the effect of new seasonally adjusted estimates on short-term resident departure trend estimates, see paragraph 30 of the Explanatory Notes.


PERMANENT AND LONG-TERM MOVEMENTS

Statistics on overseas arrivals and departures relate to the number of movements of travellers rather than the number of travellers. Care should be taken when using permanent and long-term movements data as it is known that some individuals who travel multiple times in a year are counted each time they cross Australia's borders. For example, in the year 2011, there were over 14 million multiple movements accounting for 46% of all movements (see paragraph 7 of the Explanatory Notes). Permanent and long-term movements in this publication are not an appropriate source of migration statistics. For further information refer to Australian Demographic Statistics (cat. no. 3101.0); the Information Paper: Statistical Implications of Improved Methods for Estimating Net Overseas Migration, Australia, 2007 (cat. no. 3107.0.55.005); and the Technical Note: '12/16 month rule' Methodology for Calculating Net Overseas Migration from September quarter 2006 onwards in Migration, Australia (cat. no. 3412.0) under the Explanatory Notes tab.

There were 11,710 people who stated they were permanent (settler) arrivals to Australia during February 2014, a decrease of 7.7% compared with February 2014 (12,680 movements). People born in India accounted for the largest proportion of settlers (17.1%), followed by people born in New Zealand (15.1%), China (13.5%) and the United Kingdom (5.9%).

There were 4,950 Australian residents who stated their intention was to depart permanently from Australia during February 2014, which decreased 28.0% when compared with February 2013 (6,880 movements). However, analysis shows that the majority of those with an intention of permanently departing, return to Australia within the following year. For example, in the calendar year 2011, out of the 84,240 Australian residents who stated they were departing permanently, only 15,890 spent 12 months or more overseas.


STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE

The above presentation of movements in estimates does not take into account whether the change in movement is statistically significant. Care should be taken when interpreting the impact of numeric and/or percentage change. Please see the Standard Errors section (under the Explanatory Notes tab) of this issue for more detail.