Just looking at September travel data. I can’t recall what increase, if any, occurred in the arrivals caps that month, but visitor arrivals (i.e. those needing clearance to get in) were up 22.6% in September from August, but resident returns (i.e. those stuck elsewhere or needing clearance to get out) were up only 1.1%.
ABS international travel september
Interesting the differences in the country breakdowns (2.2 and 3.2) when you take tourism out of the equation. Travel to PNG down to just over 5% of last year, Indonesia is 0.13%. I’ve not been to Bali too.
A quick delve into the spreadsheets indicates that among the visitors, visit friends and relatives is up less than employment and business. And about 70 people stated on their card that they were coming for holiday. That’s 70 people that would have received a grilling from ABF!
54% of the returnees, which is just under 40% of the total arrivals, had been away more than 6 months, indicating still many ‘stuck elsewhere’. The remaining 46% of the returnees would have largely been those who left after the travel ban was introduced. About 140 had reason to go overseas for a week or less. There has been a steady reduction over time in returnees, with September numbers about 46% of April. Short term arrivals have fluctuated much more, with a low since the travel ban of 2,250 in April and a high of 5,400 in June.
Note that the data ignores residents who were overseas for more than a year, and non residents intending to stay for more than 12 months, such as migrants.
On domestic travel, no real surprises, interesting that BNE-CNS travel was up to 75% of what it was in September last year, and that charters are up 44% on last year, driven it seems by mining industry demand.
BITRE Domestic travel
cheers skip