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Japan, Indonesia and the US continue to shine as destinations for Australians, while New Zealand is struggling, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data for May, released yesterday.

When trend estimates for short-term resident returns (a way of measuring outbound travel from Australia) for May 2017 and May 2018 were compared, the highest percentage increases were recorded for Japan (20.9%), followed by China (16.3%) and Indonesia (11%). The highest percentage decreases were recorded for Thailand (-3.2%), New Zealand (-2.3%) and Fiji (-0.4%).

New Zealand, which has registered declines throughout the year, may have turned the corner, with May’s decline of 2.3% better than the previous month, which saw a 3.3% decline. Visitation to New Zealand by Australians fell in January (-1%), in February (-2.5%), in March (-2.9%) and in April (-3.3%).

In trend estimate and in seasonally adjusted terms, however, New Zealand is still the most popular destination for Australians, by a comfortable margin.

Main destinations and their performance year-on-year in May:

Indonesia           +11%

USA                     +3%

New Zealand      -2.3%

China                   +16%

Britain                +6.3%

Thailand             -3.2%

Japan                  +20.9%

Singapore          +7.9%

Fiji                        +0.4%

India                    +10.9%

Japan’s stellar performance is in line with a recently released Roy Morgan survey which found that 10.5% of Australians planning an overseas trip in the next 12 months plan to go to Japan, more than double the 4.8% of a decade ago.

Since 2008 the popularity of Japan as a travel destination for Australians has overtaken China, Singapore and Thailand, according to Roy Morgan. See: Two big winners as overseas travel intentions rise

SHORT-TERM RESIDENT RETURNS TO AUSTRALIA

Trend estimates: Short-term resident returns during May 2018 (929, 500 movements) increased 1.1% when compared with April 2018 (919,800 movements). This followed monthly increases of 1.1% for both March and April 2018. The current trend estimate for returns is 5.5% higher than in May 2017.

Seasonally adjusted estimates: During May 2018, short-term resident returns (938,800 movements) increased 1.2% when compared with April 2018 (927,700 movements). This followed monthly increases of 4.3% in March 2018 and 1.6% in April 2018.

Original estimates: There were 822,200 short-term resident returns to Australia in May 2018.

Written by Peter Needham