International travel figures show the number of foreign visitor arrivals is rising strongly.
Aussies are still heading abroad in droves, but their numbers are not growing as quickly as arrivals.
The number of foreigners arriving in Australia for short-term stays rose by six per cent in December, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday.
At the same time the number of Australian residents heading abroad rose by four per cent.
These monthly figures are volatile, even after adjustment for regular seasonal variations.
But the different growth rates are consistent with recent trends.
The bureau's trend estimates - a smoothed version of the seasonally adjusted figures - show arrivals growing at an annualised rate of 13 per cent between November and December.
Departures are still trending up as well, but at less than half that pace, an annualised rate of only six per cent.
The gap between those growth rates is unusually wide.
And it's a marked turnaround from the average of the decade to mid-2013 when arrivals grew by less than three per cent a year while departures racked up annual growth averaging nearly 10 per cent.
For much of that decade, the odds were stacked against inbound travel.
The Australian dollar was strong and, relative to Australia, much of the global economy was weak.
By mid-2013, the number of outbound travellers exceeded the number of visitors by over 200,000 a month.
A decade earlier, the gap had been over 100,000 in favour of visitors.
But the Australian economy has underperformed of late, cruising along at about two thirds of its maximum sustainable pace, while other developed economies have picked up.
China and India, with their burgeoning middle classes, have continued to expand.
And, most important of all, the exchange rate began to fall in the second quarter of last year.
Compared with the average of the two years before that, the Australian dollar is down by 13 per cent versus the US dollar.
Despite that fall the exchange rate still relatively high.
But it's been enough to help start a turnaround in the imbalance of traveller numbers.
The trend figures show the outbound-inbound gap has now narrowed to around 180,000.
That should be a cause for optimism, because at 90 US cents the Aussie is still relatively high.
And there's every reason to expect it to continue to ratchet lower in response to weaker commodity prices and expectations of higher interest rates overseas, in particular in the US.
The travel and tourism industry by itself won't be able to carry the economy as it looks for direction after the mining investment boom.
But it has to be a part of the transition.
A big part.
And the latest travel figures suggest it will.
