Yesterday’s release of the overseas short-term arrivals and departures figures for April revealed a huge surge in the number of Australians holidaying overseas in the bogan hotspots of South East Asia.
According to the ABS, the number of Aussies leaving to holiday in South East Asia (particularly Indonesia and Thailand) rose to a record 250,400 in April, with South East Asia also accounting for 32% of Australia’s total tourist departures over the month. Oceania was the second favourite overseas destination for tourists, accounting for 19% of departures, followed by the Americas (13%), North East Asia (12%), and North West Europe (10%):
By contrast, the most foreign visitors to Australia came from NE Asia (mostly China), accounted for 24% of arrivals in April, followed by Oceania and North-West Europe (each 20%):
With the above tourist movements, the ratio of annual arrivals to departures was unchanged at 74.1% in April, after rebounding from its December 2013 low (see below charts).
In the month of April 2014, the number of tourism arrivals rose by a seasonally adjusted 2.5%, whereas the number of tourist departures rose by 10.6%.
In the 12 months to March 2014, the annual number of arrivals increased by 11.8% relative to the corresponding period of the prior year, whereas departures rose by 7.0% (see next chart).
In the year to April 2014, 8.89 million Australians holidayed overseas over the year – a 139% increase on 10 years ago (3.71 million). However, this was partly offset by a record 6.59 million inbound tourists arriving in Australia over the year – a 34% increase on a decade ago (4.91 million).
