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INTRODUCTION In 1999-2000, cultural funding was allocated to:
Commonwealth cultural funding was primarily directed to Radio and television broadcasting (50% or $713.8m). The largest single recipient of State and Territory cultural funding was National parks and wildlife services (40% or $684.8m). More than half of Local Government cultural funding went to Libraries and archives (55% or $447.1m).
Notes: - nil or rounded to zero n.e.c. not elsewhere classified (a) Comprises: radio and television broadcasting; film and video; and multimedia. Source: Cultural Funding, Australia (Cat. no. 4183.0). Cultural funding by State and Territory Governments National parks and wildlife services attracted by far the largest share of State and Territory Government funding in most of the States and Territories, followed by Libraries and archives. The exceptions were Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory, where the order was reversed, and New South Wales, where Museums, rather than Libraries and archives, attracted the second highest share of funding (graph F2.3). MUSEUMS Government funding was the primary source of income for museums in 1999-2000, accounting for over two-thirds (68%) of their income. Fundraising income (7.5%), admissions income (7.3%) and sales of goods (7.2%) were the next largest sources of income for museums (see table F2.4). F2.4 Museums, Sources of income by organisation size
Notes: - nil or rounded to zero * estimate has a relative standard error of between 25% and 50% and should be used with caution ** estimate has a relative standard error greater than 50% and is considered too unreliable for general use n.p. not published (a) Of the total Government funding ($487.2m), $115.1m was in the form of one-off project funding. Source: Museums, Australia (Cat. no. 8560.0). In 1999-2000, 27.5 million people visited museums. Museums located in New South Wales and Victoria were the most visited, accounting for 37% and 24% of admissions respectively. Admissions to museums in the Australian Capital Territory (10%) were well above its share of the Australian population. The National Gallery and the Australian War Memorial contributed significantly to the Australian Capital Territory's results. The average price per paid admission to museums was $4.80. The price of admission generally increased with the size of the museum. Museums operated by volunteers generally had lower admission fees, with the average fee $2.10. Just under 7,000 people were employed in museums at the end of June 2000. Museums were also heavily reliant on volunteers. There were nearly five times as many volunteers in the month of June 2000 as there were people employed in museums at the end of June 2000 (see table F2.5). Over half (58%) of the 2,049 museum establishments in Australia at the end of June 2000 were operated by volunteers.
Notes: * estimate has a relative standard error of between 25% and 50% and should be used with caution Source: Museums Australia (Cat. no. 8560.0). VISITOR EXPENDITURE ON CULTURAL ACTIVITIES According to the National Visitor Survey for 1999-2000, day visitors spent $365 million on entertainment (including museums, movies, zoos etc). This represented 3% of total expenditure by day visitors. In the same period, overnight visitors (i.e. visitors staying away from home for at least one night, at a place at least 40 kilometres from home) spent $878 million on entertainment (2.6% of the total expenditure by overnight visitors). Not surprisingly holiday and leisure visitors contributed $620 million (71%) to entertainment expenditure.1 International visitors spent an average of $57 on entertainment during 1999-2000. This represented only 1% of average expenditure by international visitors. It is likely that a proportion of international visitor expenditure on organised tours (an average of $119 per visitor) and package tours (an average of $913 per visitor) included expenditure on some cultural activities.2 IMPORTANCE OF CULTURAL ACTIVITIES TO TOURISM The results of the Tourism Satellite Account for 1997-98 show that the Libraries, museums and arts industry contributed $366 million (1.5%) to tourism gross value added. This industry is relatively reliant upon tourism with tourism contributing 16.1% to the industry gross value added. The Libraries, museums and arts industry employed 51,200 people during 1997-98. Of these 8,200 were identified as tourism employed persons. This equated to 6,200 full time equivalent employed persons. CONCLUSION This article draws together the results of two recently released ABS publications, Cultural Funding, Australia and Museums, Australia. It shows that government funding is the primary source of income for services such as museums and libraries. During 1999-2000, museums attracted more than 27,000 admissions, employed almost 7,000 persons and used another 30,000 volunteers in the provision of services. These results, together with estimates of visitor expenditure from the Bureau of Tourism Research visitor surveys and the Tourism Satellite Account, indicate the importance of these services to tourism. For more information on ABS statistics please contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070. 1 Bureau of Tourism Research, Travel by Australians, June quarter 2000 2 Bureau of Tourism Research, International Visitors in Australia, June quarter 2000 Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window.
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