Tourist Arrivals and Departures
Tourist arrivals hit record highs
Overseas arrivals and departures Tourist arrivals hit record highs:
The number of tourists arriving in Australia in March rose by 1.9 per cent to record highs.
And the number of Australians travelling overseas for holidays or business rose 3 per cent in March to an 11-month high.
It was the second highest month on record for tourist departures.More migrants: The number of permanent settlers entering Australia hit a 43-month high of 14,670 in March. Over the past year 153,410 people came to Australia as permanent settlers – a 30-month high.
What does it all mean?Aussie airports are clearly busy at present.
Not only are more people travelling interstate, but inflows and outflows at people at international terminals are continuing to grow.
The number of tourists coming to Australia hit record highs in seasonally adjusted terms in March. And the number of Aussies travelling overseas was the second highest on record.
In fact the total number of short-term tourist arrivals and departures hit a record high of 1.19 million people.It’s important to remember that tourist arrivals are at record highs even with a strong Aussie dollar.
The problem for tourist areas is not that foreign tourists aren’t coming, rather Aussies now prefer to go abroad.Two of the smartest measures in the Budget concern international travel.
More and more Aussies are being enticed to travel abroad and this hasn’t been lost on the Government. Not only did it increase the departure tax in the Budget, but it indexed increases to the consumer price index.
And the Government will spend an extra $61 million to promote Australia to the Asian tourism market. A record 52,000 Chinese tourists came to Australia in March, up 31 per cent on a year ago.
It’s a huge market and we’re only scratching the surface.The other measure in the Budget of relevance to today’s figures concerns the migrant intake. The Government announced an increase in the 2012/13 migrant program.
Lifting places by 5,000 people, from 185,000 to 190,000.
The 2012/13 migration program includes a skill stream of 129,250 places, 60,185 family places and a special eligibility stream of 565 places.
The increased inflow of people to Australia – both migrants and tourists – is good news for retailers. And certainly the tourism industry is one of the winners in the Budget with the decision to market Australia to Asia.
It’s clear that Australia will need to keep bringing in workers from abroad to address skill shortages. And each time a foreign worker comes to Australia, he or she will need somewhere to live, will spend at local shops and perhaps buy goods like cars.
But local and state governments need to ensure that services are available, and that’s important to keep in regard as governments assess public servant numbers. What do the figures show?
Overseas arrivals/departures
The number of people coming to Australia for holidays or business rose for the second time in five months, lifting by 1.9 per cent in March to record highs.
Arrivals are up 7.7 per cent on a year ago.A record 52,000 tourists from China came to Australia in March, up 31.2 per cent on a year ago.
The number of Aussies travelling overseas for holidays or business rose for the fourth time in five months, lifting by 3.0 per cent in March.
Tourist departures were up 16.3 per cent on a year ago in seasonally adjusted terms (up 6.5 per cent in trend terms).In seasonally adjusted terms the tourism deficit – the gap between departures and arrivals rose from 154,900 in February to 164,800 in March.
In trend terms the tourism deficit stood at an 8-month high of 162,300.The rolling annual number of net permanent and long-term arrivals to Australia has risen for the 12th straight month.
In the year to March net long-term arrivals stood at a two-year high of 268,190. The record high was net-long term arrivals of 341,280 in the year to July 2009.The actual number of permanent settlers entering Australia hit a 43-month high of 14,670 in March.
Over the past year 153,410 people came to Australia as permanent settlers – a 30-month high. What is the importance of the economic data?
The Australian Bureau of Statistics releases data on overseas arrivals and departures is produced monthly and is an indicator of the health of the tourism sector.
The figures are also useful in understanding spending trends and tracking migrant numbers – an indicator with widespread implications for employment, housing and spending. What are the implications for interest rates and investors?
More people are coming to Australia and more Aussies are going abroad on holidays. All these flows are important, affecting airlines, retailers, public services and even the housing market.
If population keeps lifting, courtesy of migration, then the potential growth rate of the economy will also lift.Inflation has been defined as too much money chasing too few goods.
If more people come to Australia, it is important that production of goods and services rise at the same time. Investors need to watch the overseas arrivals and departures data each month to get a sense of the potential impact on the broader economy.
