ABS releases short-term visitor and permanent settler statistics for August

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Created on Wednesday, 09 October 2013 15:48

Written by Editorial staff

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has just released its latest "Overseas Arrivals and Departures" report, which should be of interest to migration agents around the country.

The report shows that a total of 534,800 short-term visitors arrived in Australia during the month of August 2013.

This is 0.5 per cent higher than the number of short-term visitors that disembarked in the country during July 2013.

It also means that approximately 4.3 per cent more people were welcomed into Australia during August 2013 than in the same month last year.

The majority of short-term visitors travelled here from New Zealand, China, Japan, Malaysia, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong and South Korea.

The number of people who come to Australia from China has risen by an impressive 14.1 per cent over the last 12 months (August 2012 - August 2013). This is the largest percentage increase the Australian Bureau of Statistics recorded.

In addition to this, the number of short-term visitors from Singapore went up by 9.7 per cent during this same period.

However, falls in short-term visitor numbers were recorded for both Japan and South Korea, of 7.2 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively.

All other countries listed above saw increases of varying amounts.

New Zealand is still Australia's number-one supplier of short-term visitors, though, with approximately 100,000 Kiwis making a quick trip across the proverbial ditch in August 2013.

The "Overseas Arrivals and Departures" report also sheds some light on the number of long-term or permanent visitors Australia opened its doors to during the month of August.

A total of 13,490 people who said they were coming to settle in Australia permanently arrived in the country in August 2013. This is up 2 per cent on last year's recorded number of 13,220.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reveals that, unsurprisingly, the majority of these permanent settlers began their journey in China - 13.6 per cent in all.

China was followed by India, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, which accounted for 12.8 per cent, 11. 7 per cent and 6.3 per cent of permanent settlers, respectively.

These facts and figures should give migration agents in Australia some food for thought - as well as a boost of confidence in the travel and tourism market!