Some 507,300 people visited Australia on a short-term basis in December, new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) have shown.
This is a 0.2 per cent increase on the number of people that visited on this basis in November, the figures, published online today (February 8th), show.
In seasonally adjusted terms, 505,800 people visited the country on a short-term basis in December, which is 0.3 per cent more than in November.
As for short-term resident departures, 601,500 were recorded in December, in trend terms, which is 0.2 per cent fewer than in November.
"During December 2010, [in trend terms] short-term resident departures (603,800 movements) increased by 0.2 per cent compared with November 2010 (602,300 movements)," the ABS report reveals.
Last month, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship's Settler Arrivals publication shows that 140,610 people arrived in Australia in 2009/10 seeking to settle in the country.
This is a decrease of 11 per cent on the previous year.
Posted by Craig Francis