TOURISTS are flocking to Australia, according to new statistics showing short-term arrivals up 11.3 per cent on last year.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures for March, released this week, show almost 50,000 more visitors arrived in 2005 compared to the same time in 2004, bringing the monthly total to 473,000 people.

The 1.1 per cent increase since February follows a full year of tourism growth.

The data shows most short-term visitors came from New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Japan, the United States, Singapore, Korea and China.

Almost 12,000 travellers settled in Australia permanently during March, up by 25.3 per cent on the year before, with the majority coming from the United Kingdom, New Zealand and China.

More than 5000 Australians permanently left the country, an increase of 2.8 per cent on the previous year.

But the number of Aussies heading overseas for a holiday in March, 383,800, decreased slightly for the first time since April 2003.