Yesterday’s overseas short-term arrivals and departures figures for May dealt yet another blow for Australia’s tourism industry, with the number of outbound tourists jumping to another new record monthly and annual high.
The number of short-term visitor arrivals rose by a seasonally-adjusted 0.3% in April, whereas short-term resident departures rose by 1.7% to a new record, suggesting Australians are continuing to shun domestic travel in favour of holidaying overseas. The ratio of annual arrivals to departures also fell to 74.8% from 75.0% in April and is now at a 27-year low (see below chart).
In the year to May 2013, the number of short-term visitor arrivals and resident departures set new records – up 4.4% and 6.8% respectively (see next chart).
A record 6.25 million inbound tourists arrived in Australia over the year – a 32% increase on a decade ago. However, the number of Australians holidaying overseas also hit a record 8.36 million departures – a 149% 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 near record 222,600 visitors in May 2013, or 30.5% 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 21% of arrivals respectively in May 2013:
With the Australian Dollar falling heavily in June and likely to go lower, it will be interesting to see when the flow of outbound tourists slows over the months ahead.
