There were 504,700 visitor arrivals during March 2005, an increase of 17 per cent relative to the same month of the previous year.

The timing of Easter in March 2005 impacts on these results as Easter tends to be a peak travel period. The 12 months to the end of March 2005 includes two Easter periods; the first quarter 2005 results include Easter while the same period in 2004 didn’t; and the results for the month of March 2005 include Easter while the March 2004 figures didn’t.

The timing of Easter has most influence on Western hemisphere markets and markets with large ex-patriot populations such as Singapore and Hong Kong. For example arrivals from the UK were up 27% during the month of March 2005.

Key trends by market are outlined below.

New Zealand

There were 91,500 visitors from New Zealand during March 2005 bringing the total for the three months to March 2005 to 219,500 an increase of 16 per cent relative to the same period of the previous year.

Europe

There were 86,800 visitors from the United Kingdom during March 2005 bringing the total for the three months to March 2005 to 235,200, an increase of 15 per cent relative to the same period of the previous year.

There were 14,700 visitors from Germany during March 2005 bringing the total for the three months to March 2005 to 42,500, an increase of 3 per cent relative to the same period of the previous year.

The Americas

There were 43,600 visitors from the United States of America during March 2005 bringing the total for the three months to March 2005 to 122,700 an increase of 8 per cent relative to the same period of the previous year.

There were 11,000 visitors from Canada during March 2005 bringing the total for the three months to March 2005 to 34,800, an increase of 12 per cent relative to the same period of the previous year.

Southeast Asia

There were 22,400 visitors from Singapore during March 2005 bringing the total for the three months to March 2005 to 59,300, an increase of 15 per cent relative to the same period of the previous year.

There were 14,000 visitors from Malaysia during March 2005 bringing the total for the three months to March 2005 to 40,500, an increase of 3 per cent relative to the same period of the previous year.

There were 8,200 visitors from Thailand during March 2005 bringing the total for the three months to March 2005 to 18,400, a decrease of 3 per cent relative to the same period of the previous year.

Northeast Asia

There were 67,600 visitors from Japan during March 2005 bringing the total for the three months to March 2005 to 193,600, an increase of 5 per cent relative to the same period of the previous year.

There were 19,900 visitors from Korea during March 2005 bringing the total for the three months to March 2005 to 74,500, an increase of 23 per cent relative to the same period of the previous year.

There were 17,400 visitors from China during March 2005 bringing the total for the three months to March 2005 to 94,200, an increase of 31 per cent relative to the same period of the previous year.

2. Australia’s land

Geographical Position

Australia is the word’s smallest continent. Nearly 7600000 square kilometers in area. It is one-fourth the size of Africa. East of Australia is Oceania, a group of islands spread over a vast area of the Pacific. Australia and Oceania combined cover an area of nearly 9000000 square kilometers, which is but a little less than that of Europe.

Australia lies wholly within the Southern Hemisphere. It is surrounded by oceans and seas: in the south, west and north by the Indian Ocean, in the east by the Pacific. It lies far from the other parts of the world. For this reason Europe was long unaware of it’s existence. It was not until the beginning of the 17^th century that Australia was discovered by the Dutch.

Like the other continents of the Southern Hemisphere Australia’s coastlines are smooth, with few peninsulas and bays. In the south it is washed by the Great Australian Bight which, however, penetrates only slightly inland. Its shores are regular and unsuited for harbours.

Along the north-eastern coast extends the Great Barrier Reef for 2000 kilometers, at some distance from the land and interrupted in places by narrow straits. In the north it is barely two kilometers wide. In the south it widens to 150 kilometers. It consists of submarine rocks (cays) above water in places and fantastically shaped. These have been built by the coral polyp, a small sea animal living in the warm waters of the southern seas. The Great Barrier Reef makes it hard for ships to approach the shore.

Off the southern shores lies the island of Tasmania, separated by a shallow strait from the mainland.

The climate

Two-thirds of Australia, mostly in the centre and the west, is desert. There are hills and big dry salt lakes, and it is very difficult to grow anything. Not many people live there.

In the north, half the year is 'wet', and half is 'dry'. From November to April -heavy rain fills the rivers and makes enormous lakes where thousands of birds come for the summer. From May to October it is often sunny and dry for weeks, and it is a popular place for winter holidays in the sun.