8635.0 - Tourist Accommodation, Australia, Dec 2001  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 27/03/2002   
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INTRODUCTION

1 This publication contains data from the ABS quarterly Survey of Tourist Accommodation (STA). The STA is a mailout collection that completely enumerates all in-scope accommodation establishments.

2 From the March quarter 1998, the scope and collection strategy for the STA was changed to include only significant accommodation establishments (these are defined below).


SCOPE

3 On a quarterly basis, the STA includes hotels, resorts, motels, guest houses and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms or units.

4 Every third year beginning with 2000, the STA expands to also include:

  • holiday flats, units and houses of letting entities with 15 or more rooms or units;
  • caravan parks with 40 or more powered sites;
  • visitor hostels with 25 or more bed spaces.

5 The short-term non-residential accommodation which is in scope of the STA is accommodation which is not leased, and which is provided to guests who would generally stay for periods of less than two months.

6 Some establishments also provide long-term residential accommodation. For hotels, motels, guest houses and serviced apartments, the amount of such activity is considered to be insignificant and is included in the data presented in this publication.


DEFINITIONS OF ACCOMMODATION ESTABLISHMENTS

7 The STA includes the following categories of establishments which provide predominantly short-term non-residential accommodation to the general public:
  • hotels and resorts with facilities - establishments with 15 or more rooms which are licensed to operate a public bar and which provide accommodation on a room/suite basis, with a bath/shower and toilet in most guest rooms, but which do not have full cooking facilities (i.e. hot plates and oven/microwave) in most guest rooms;
  • motels, private hotels and guest houses with facilities - establishments with 15 or more rooms which are not licensed to operate a public bar, and which provide accommodation on a room/suite basis, with a bath/shower and toilet in most guest rooms, but which do not have full cooking facilities (i.e. hot plates and oven/microwave) in most guest rooms;
  • serviced apartments - establishments with 15 or more units which mostly comprise self-contained units at the same location, and which are available on a unit/apartment basis to the general public for a minimum of one night; the units should have full cooking facilities (i.e. hot plates and oven/microwave), refrigerator and bath/shower and toilet facilities; all bed linen and towels should be provided, and daily servicing (i.e. cleaning and bed making) must be available through the on-site management, although this service may not necessarily be used.


CLASSIFICATION CHANGES

8 As a result of the separate classification of serviced apartments from the March quarter 1998, there have been several changes to definitions of accommodation units. Some units, which were formerly in categories such as hotels, motels or holiday flats, units and houses are now classified as serviced apartments. A small number of establishments which were previously classified as motels have been reclassified as holiday flats, units and houses and are therefore no longer in scope of the quarterly STA, except as described in paragraph 4.


COVERAGE

9 Coverage is comprehensive and from the September quarter 1999, is obtained from the Australian Automobile Association accommodation guide, supplied as an electronic file, which is updated twice yearly. This is supplemented by notification of new tourism developments and their likely opening dates in selected guides, major tourism journals and periodicals and newspapers. Periodic comparison with lists of accommodation establishments provided by the various Tourism Commissions and Industry Associations is also undertaken.


DATA QUALITY

10 The survey does not have a sample component and the data are not subject to sampling variability. However, other inaccuracies collectively referred to as non-sampling error may affect the data. These non-sampling errors may arise from a number of sources, including:
  • errors in the reporting of data by respondents;
  • errors in the process of capturing data;
  • estimation for missing data; and
  • definition and classification errors.

Every effort has been made to reduce non-sampling error to a minimum by careful design and testing of questionnaires, and efficient operating procedures and systems used to compile statistics.

11 The December quarter 2001 response rates were:
  • 95% licensed hotels
  • 94% motels and guest houses
  • 95% serviced apartments


TAKINGS FROM ACCOMMODATION

12 From 1 July 2000, takings from accommodation include gross revenue from the provision of accommodation, including GST. Takings from meals are excluded. Where businesses are unable to provide the data inclusive of GST, it is automatically adjusted by the ABS prior to aggregation and release in output. In the June quarter 2001 at the Australia level, these adjustments accounted for 1.6% of total takings, 1.9% of takings for hotels, 0.6% of takings for motels and guest houses and 2.2% of takings for serviced apartments.

This issue also contains revisions to account for the under-reporting of GST in takings from accommodation for September quarter 2000, December quarter 2000 and March quarter 2001. An Appendix providing further information about these revisions is included below.


REGIONAL DATA

13 Survey results are aggregated to Tourism Regions as defined by relevant State and Territory Tourist Commissions or equivalent organisations. Tourism Regions are reviewed annually and may be subject to boundary and name changes. Where changes have occurred care should be taken when making comparisons with previously published data at this level.

Details of the composition of Tourism Regions and major changes to Tourism Regions may be found in Tourist Accommodation, Small Area Data Standard Data Service products for each State/Territory (Cat. no. 8635.n.40.001) (issued quarterly). Outline maps of Tourism Regions are also provided in these Small Area Data products.


ANNUAL CAPACITY DATA

14 ABS releases counts of accommodation establishments and their capacity as at the end of December each year in respect of the pre-1998 scope of the survey (but recognising serviced apartments separately) as follows:
  • hotels, motels and guest houses and serviced apartments with facilities and having five or more rooms;
  • holiday flats, units and houses (other than those included with serviced apartments) which are operated by owners, managers or real estate agents who have sole letting rights to at least five flats, units or houses for short term letting;
  • all caravan parks regardless of size; and
  • all visitor hostels regardless of size.

15 As a result of classification changes applied from March quarter 1998 onward, data will not be comparable with that previously published for particular accommodation types.

16 These counts are published annually in a quarterly issue of Tourism Indicators, Australia (Cat. no. 8634.0).


STATISTICS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST

17 The ABS makes tourist accommodation data available on request, including statistics for past quarters, for specific areas and specific data items. For example, detailed employment statistics showing the number of full-time, part-time or casual employees may be available. Normally such data is made available on a fee for service basis.


RELATED PUBLICATIONS

18 Other ABS publications and products which may be of interest include:
    Directory of Tourism Statistics, 2000 (Cat. no. 1130.0) (irregular)
    Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia (Cat. no. 3401.0) (issued monthly)
    Tourism Indicators, Australia (Cat. no. 8634.0) (issued quarterly)
    Tourist Accommodation, Small Area Data Standard Data Service (SDS) products for each State/Territory (except the ACT) (Cat. no. 8635.n.40.001) (issued quarterly).

19 Current publications produced by the ABS are listed in the Catalogue of Publications and Products (Cat. no. 1101.0). The ABS also issues the Release Advice (Cat. no. 1105.0) on Tuesdays and Fridays which lists publications to be released in the next few days. Both are available from any ABS office or the ABS web site.


EFFECTS OF ROUNDING

20 Where figures have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between totals and the sum of the component items.


TOURISM REGION CHANGES

21 Changes to Statistical Local Area (SLA) and Tourism Region (TR) boundaries were introduced in the March quarter 2001 issue of this publication. These changes were applied to previously published results. Therefore, users should note that the revised Tourism Regions tables for NSW and SA (Tables 27 and 30), include revisions as a result of these boundary changes and the under-reporting of GST. For details of the specific geographic areas (SLAs and TRs) involved see:

Tourist Accommodation, Small Area Data, New South Wales (Cat. no. 8635.1.40.001). March qtr 2001 issue

Tourist Accommodation, Small Area Data, South Australia (Cat. no. 8635.5.40.001) March qtr 2001 issue

From June quarter 2001 changes have been made to the following Tourism Region (TR) in South Australia:

South East (TR) renamed Limestone Coast (TR) (this involved no change in the boundary of this Tourism Region)