1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2012
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 24/05/2012
Page tools: Print Page | |||
|
Statistics contained in the Year Book are the most recent available at the time of preparation. In many cases, the ABS website and the websites of other organisations provide access to more recent data. Each Year Book table or graph and the bibliography at the end of each chapter provides hyperlinks to the most up to date data release where available.
Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window.
|
TOURISM INDUSTRY
Tourism is not an industry in the conventional sense. In the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006 (1292.0), industries are defined on the basis of the primary goods and services that they produce. However, tourism is defined according to the status of the consumer, that is, the characteristics of the consumer determine whether the production is included within the scope of tourism. For example, expenditure on a restaurant meal by a visitor contributes to tourism's share of the economy, whereas expenditure by a local resident does not.
Although a considerable amount of tourism spending may take place within the usual environment (e.g. purchase of air tickets, tour packages, luggage), the consumption of most tourism services occurs outside of the usual environment. Visitors have a positive economic impact on their destination by generating additional consumption at the destination over and above that generated by resident consumers. This combined value of tourists’ consumption (relating to the trip) provides the basis for the economic activity generated by tourism.
Visitors can be classified into national (domestic) and international visitors. National visitors consist of Australian residents who travel outside their usual environment within Australia. They include both overnight visitors (staying one or more nights at a location) and same-day visitors. International visitors are those persons who travel to a country other than that in which they have their usual residence.
The contribution of an industry to the overall production of goods and services in an economy, gross domestic product (GDP), is measured by gross value added (GVA). Information on the relationship between industry GVA and GDP is provided in the INDUSTRY STRUCTURE AND PERFORMANCE chapter. A tourism satellite account (TSA) is recognised internationally as the best method for measuring the economic contribution of tourism. Tourism GVA and Tourism GDP are the major economic aggregates derived in the TSA.
The tourism industry share of total GVA in 2009–10 was 2.6% (table 23.1). This share has declined from a peak of 3.5% in 1998–99.
The tourism industry employed 500,200 people in 2009–10 (table 23.2). The number of tourism employed persons grew 5.2% between 2005–06 and 2009–10, slower than the growth in total employed persons (9.3%) over that period. Consequently, the tourism share of total employed persons fell slightly between 2005–06 and 2009–10.
Tourism consumption is the amount paid by a visitor, or on behalf of a visitor, for and during his/her trip and stay at the destination. It also includes imputed consumption by resident and non-resident visitors on tourism-related products; for instance, the imputed values of non-market services provided directly to visitors such as public museums (even though these may be provided for free).
In 2009–10, tourism consumption was largest for Long distance passenger transportation (16% of consumption) and Takeaway and restaurant meals (15%), followed by Shopping (including gifts and souvenirs) with 14%, and Accommodation services (11%) (table 23.3).
However, there are some marked differences in consumption patterns by type of visitor. Long distance passenger transportation is the dominant tourism product consumed by domestic business/government (34%) and international visitors (19%). In contrast, domestic household visitor consumption is dominated by Takeaway and restaurant meals (17%) and expenditure on Shopping (including gifts and souvenirs) (16%).
Total international visitor consumption decreased by 2.5% between 2008–09 and 2009–10, while total exports of goods and services fell by 11% over the same period (table 23.4). Growth in international visitor consumption was strongest during 2006–07. In 2009–10, international visitors consumed $22.7 billion worth of goods and services produced by the Australian economy, representing 8.9% of the total exports of goods and services.