MAIN FEATURES


SHORT-TERM VISITOR ARRIVALS

In trend terms, short-term visitor arrivals to Australia during January 2013 (532,000 movements) increased 0.4% when compared with December 2012 (529,700 movements). Currently, short-term visitor arrivals are 6.2% higher than in January 2012.

The following table presents the top ten source countries (based on original estimates) for short-term visitor arrivals during January 2013. When trend estimates for short-term visitor arrivals for January 2012 and January 2013 were compared, the highest percentage increase was recorded for Malaysia (20.7%) followed by Singapore (14.4%). None of the top ten source countries recorded a percentage decrease when January 2012 and January 2013 were compared.

Short-term Visitor Arrivals, Australia - January 2013
	Trend	Seasonally Adjusted	Original	Dec 12 to Jan 13	Jan 12 to Jan 13
Source countries(a)	'000	'000	'000	Trend % change	Trend % change
New Zealand	104.5	105.9	82.1	1.5	3.1
China	54.1	52.1	58.7	-1.3	10.2
UK, CIs & IOM(b)	50.0	49.5	57.8	0.3	1.4
United States of America	42.8	42.7	42.1	1.1	8.4
Japan	29.1	28.5	22.7	-0.2	1.3
Korea(c)	17.1	17.0	20.9	1.0	2.4
Singapore	29.8	30.4	17.5	-0.8	14.4
Germany	13.4	13.0	13.5	0.4	5.5
Canada	10.2	10.3	12.7	1.1	2.7
Malaysia	23.6	23.0	12.3	-	20.7
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Top 10 source countries based on original estimates.
(b) United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man.
(c) Includes North Korea and South Korea.

'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 February 2013 seasonally adjusted estimate of visitor arrivals is 2.4% higher than January 2013.
2 The February 2013 seasonally adjusted estimate of visitor arrivals is 2.4% lower than January 2013.

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 29 of the Explanatory Notes.


SHORT-TERM RESIDENT DEPARTURES

In trend terms, short-term resident departures from Australia during January 2013 (691,800 movements) increased 0.2% when compared with December 2012 (690,300 movements). Currently, short-term resident departures are 4.6% higher than in January 2012.

The following table presents the top ten destination countries (based on original estimates) for short-term resident departures in January 2013. When trend estimates for short-term resident departures for January 2012 and January 2013 were compared, the highest percentage increase was recorded for Japan (46.9%), followed by Singapore (15.7%). The highest percentage decrease was recorded for Vietnam (6.3%), followed by Fiji (5.7%).

Short-term Resident Departures, Australia - January 2013
	Trend	Seasonally Adjusted	Original	Dec 12 to Jan 13	Jan 12 to Jan 13
Source countries(a)	'000	'000	'000	Trend % change	Trend % change
New Zealand	95.2	97.5	99.3	1.0	3.0
Indonesia	75.1	74.8	68.7	-0.6	-1.6
United States of America	71.8	69.9	54.8	-1.1	5.7
Thailand	52.7	53.1	50.3	1.0	9.1
Japan	17.5	20.1	30.2	5.9	46.9
China	31.2	30.0	26.8	-0.1	-3.2
Singapore	27.0	27.1	24.6	-0.7	15.7
Fiji	26.3	26.6	23.4	-1.3	-5.7
Vietnam	17.2	17.5	22.7	-0.5	-6.3
India	18.7	19.8	22.7	1.3	9.5
(a) Top 10 destination countries based on original estimates.

'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 February 2013 seasonally adjusted estimate of resident departures is 2.9% higher than January 2013.
2 The February 2013 seasonally adjusted estimate of resident departures is 2.9% lower than January 2013.

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 29 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 financial year 2006-07, there were over 10 million multiple movements accounting for 44% of all movements (see paragraph 5 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 2008-2009 (cat. no. 3412.0) under the Explanatory Notes tab.

There were 12,380 people who stated they were permanent (settler) arrivals to Australia during January 2013, a decrease of 12.9% compared with January 2012 (14,210 movements). People born in New Zealand accounted for the largest proportion of settlers (22.1%), followed by people born in India (12.3%), China (10.0%) and the UK, CIs and IOM (8.0%).

There were 11,840 Australian residents who stated their intention was to depart permanently from Australia during January 2013, which decreased 0.9% when compared with January 2012 (11,950 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 financial year 2006-07, out of the 72,100 Australian residents who stated they were departing permanently, only 14,370 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 of this issue for more detail.