Yesterday’s overseas short-term arrivals and departures figures for Market provided a mixed blessing for Australia’s tourism industry, with the number of inbound and outbound tourists jumping sharply over the month.
The number of short-term visitor arrivals increased by a seasonally-adjusted 2.3% in March, however, this was more than offset by a 3.0% jump in short-term resident departures, suggesting Australians are continuing to shun domestic travel in favour of holidaying overseas. That said, the ratio of annual arrivals to departures remained steady and hovers just above the 27-year low set in July 2012 (see below chart).
In the year to March 2013, the number of short-term visitor arrivals and resident departures set new records – up 5.0% and 4.3% respectively (see next chart).
A record 6.22 million inbound tourists arrived in Australia over the year – a 31% increase on a decade ago. However, the number of Australians holidaying overseas also hit a record 8.26 million departures – a 144% increase on 10 years ago.
The key bogan hotspot of South East Asia (particularly Indonesia and Thailand) remains Australia’s favourite holiday destination, receiving a record 222,700 visitors in March 2013, or 31.5% of Australia’s total departures. This was followed by Oceania (21%), the Americas (13%), North East Asia (11%) and North West Europe (10%):
By contrast, the most foreign visitors to Australia came from NE Asia (mostly China) and Oceania (mostly New Zealand), which accounted for 25% and 22% of arrivals respectively in March 2013:
