Melburnian1
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2013
- Posts
- 25,716
While May 2018 is one of the quieter months for Australian domestic interstate travel on all modes, it's a good one to draw trends from. It doesn't have the variability evident in March and April due to how Easter is not the same date each year, and nor does it have school holidays (though once did when some of us attended school.)
Today's BITRE stats show overall air journeys increased in May 2018 by 2.6 per cent compared with May 2017, matching the year to May.
Some previous months have been better.
My hypothesis is that tourism from mainland China is starting to record lower increases.
Passenger traffic on by far the busiest air route, MEL - SYD was only up 1.5 per cent in May 2018 compared with May 2017, yet Melbourne is recording annual population growth of about 2.3 per cent and Sydney somewhere around 1.5 per cent, so for air travel to increase by less is unimpressive, especially given that Chinese tourists have been bumping up patronage on many air routes.
Perhaps some Australians know that 'second tier' banks have been increasing mortgage rates, and there also are apparently more lending restrictions being introduced, so that may weigh on Australians' minds.
Added to that is how many employees in the private sector are not receiving wage or salary rises, or only low rises less than or at best equal to CPI.
Today's BITRE stats show overall air journeys increased in May 2018 by 2.6 per cent compared with May 2017, matching the year to May.
Some previous months have been better.
My hypothesis is that tourism from mainland China is starting to record lower increases.
Passenger traffic on by far the busiest air route, MEL - SYD was only up 1.5 per cent in May 2018 compared with May 2017, yet Melbourne is recording annual population growth of about 2.3 per cent and Sydney somewhere around 1.5 per cent, so for air travel to increase by less is unimpressive, especially given that Chinese tourists have been bumping up patronage on many air routes.
Perhaps some Australians know that 'second tier' banks have been increasing mortgage rates, and there also are apparently more lending restrictions being introduced, so that may weigh on Australians' minds.
Added to that is how many employees in the private sector are not receiving wage or salary rises, or only low rises less than or at best equal to CPI.
