Arrivals, departures decline

THE latest monthly figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics confirm a slowing in both inbound and outbound travel.

The Apr results showed a monthly drop in visitor arrivals of 0.4%, with the figure having only risen 0.5% over the last year.

Short-term resident departures showed a similar pattern, down 0.5% on the Mar result and no growth overall since Apr 2018.

The number of travellers visiting Australia from China during Apr was down 6.1% on the same period last year, with other markets to show decline including South Korea, down 8.6%, the UK which declined 2% and Malaysia, dropping 10.5%.

Inbound markets showing growth included Japan, up 11.8%, as well as the USA which rose 6.8%, New Zealand, up 3.9%, and India which increased 3.6%.

Outbound figures were similarly gloomy, with a 6.8% drop in visitation to the USA compared to Apr 2018.

There were also year-on-year declines in travel to Vietnam (down 5.8%), Thailand (down 4.5%), Singapore (down 4.2%), the UK (down 3.1%) and Japan (down 1.4%).

The fastest growing outbound market was India, up 5.8%, but in tenth position on the ladder with only 30,300 travellers.

Travel to Indonesia has increased 0.5% versus Apr 2018 to 108,000 passengers, while outbound travel to New Zealand crept up 0.3% to 129,200, putting it in the top spot.

Of the 916,400 Australians returning home from overseas during Apr, 545,000 had been on holiday, while 225,300 had been visiting friends and relatives.

About 67,500 travelled overseas on business, while another 24,100 had been abroad for a conference or convention.