Preface
Australian tourism makes a substantial contribution to national economic development .
In 1998, the Bureau of Tourism Research estimated that domestic tourism expenditure was an estimated $43.0b, while International tourism to Australia generated export earnings of $17.3b (up 6.1% on 1997). This accounted for 15.1% of Australia's total export earnings (13.1% in 1997) and 67.2% of services exports (65.6% in 1997).The number of international visitors to Australia rose from a total of 2.4 million in 1991 to 4.2 million in 1998, an average annual
increase of 10.8%.
Tourism encompasses most short-term travel away from the normal place of work and residence, including that undertaken for business and pleasure. It includes both domestic and international travel and involves the consumption of a wide range of goods and services provided by, for example, transport and tour operators, accommodation establishments, theme parks and attractions, entertainment and arts venues, museums and historical sites, restaurants, travel agents and souvenir retailers.
It also draws upon services provided by the Commonwealth Government, State and Territory Governments and local government organisations without direct charge to tourists, such as the construction and maintenance of roads, airports, harbours, railways and national parks, tourism promotion, immigration and customs services, information services and the provision of a large number of recreational facilities.
Because tourism has become so important to Australia, and because it affects so many sectors of the economy, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) saw a need to assist people in finding the wealth of statistical information that is available on the various aspects of tourism.
In early 1992, the ABS published the first edition of the Directory of Tourism Statistics (cat. no. 1130.0) to satisfy this need.The second (1997) and third (2000) editions were updated to include comprehensive information on Australian sources of tourism statistics in the public and private sectors. It lists the ABS collections where tourism is involved, and includes many other sources of tourism-related data. The directory provides a description of the collection and the data content. It also includes descriptions and sources of tourism classification and methodology developed by ABS including the Australian Tourism Satellite Accounts (ATSA).
The ABS is not responsible for the accuracy of the information supplied by non-ABS organisations and inclusion in this directory should not be taken as an endorsement by the ABS.
I would like to thank the many organisations that have contributed to this directory.
W. McLennan
Australian Statistician
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