Australian National Accounts: Tourism Satellite Account methodology

The concepts and methods used in the Australian TSA are based on international standards developed by an Inter-Secretariat Working Group on Tourism Statistics that is comprised of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the statistical arm of the Commission of the European Communities (Eurostat), the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), and the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO). These standards are presented in the TSA: RMF 2008. National statistical offices such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) were consulted during the development and updating of the international standards. The standards are based on the System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA2008), which is the prevailing international standard for national accounts statistics.

The ABS TSA measures the economic characteristics in the visitor economy. Key tourism supply measures such as: direct tourism output; direct tourism gross value add (GVA); direct tourism gross domestic product (GDP); and direct tourism employment, relate to the direct impact of tourism only. A direct impact occurs where there is a direct relationship (physical and economic) between the visitor and the producer of a good or service.

A traveller taking a trip to a main destination outside their usual environment, for less than a year, for any main purpose (business, leisure, or other personal purpose) other than to be employed by a resident entity in the country or place visited. (International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics (IRTS) 2008, para 2.9).

If a person stays in the one place for longer than one year, their centre of economic and social interest is deemed to be in that place, so they no longer qualify as a visitor.

The following types of persons are not considered to be a visitor:

• persons for whom travel is an intrinsic part of their job, e.g., bus driver, air crew.
• persons who travel for the purpose of being admitted to or detained in a residential facility such as a hospital, prison or long stay care.
• persons who are travelling as part of a move to a new permanent residence.
• persons who are undertaking military duties.
• persons who are travelling between two parts of their usual environment.

The one-year rule for length of stay for an international visitor is consistent with the principle applied in determining residency in the balance of payments, which generally requires the length of stay in an economic territory to be less than one year to qualify as a non-resident. However, exceptions exist, such as international students. International students retain their residency status in their home territory, even if their studies abroad exceed one year. In contrast, the TSA considers students who stay longer than a year (irrespective of short breaks) as residents of their educational institution’s location and not as a visitor. International students in short-term courses are considered visitors if their actual stay is less than one year within a sixteen-month period.

The usual environment is made up of one or more areas in which a person undertakes their regular activities such as their place of residence or place of work. The usual environment criterion has two dimensions: frequency and distance. Places that are visited on a routine basis (at least once a week) are considered part of a person's usual environment, even if the place visited is located a considerable distance from their place of residence. The distance that a traveller must travel to be a visitor is 50km round trip for same day travel or 40km away from their usual residence for overnight travel.

Visitors are classified into national/domestic and international visitors:

National/domestic

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. National/domestic visitors are split into the following categories.

• Business/government; visitors travelling for business and/or government purposes.
• Household; visitors travelling for leisure and/or visiting family and friends.

International

Visitors are people who travel to a country other than that in which they have their usual residence.

In Table 9, tourism output is allocated into direct and indirect categories. Direct tourism refers to situations where there is a direct relationship between the visitor and the supplier of the good or service.

Indirect output, on the other hand, refers to the value derived from the production of goods that are purchased by tourists but produced by entities that do not maintain a direct relationship with the tourists.

For instance, if a tourist purchases a souvenir from a retail outlet, the output from the manufacturing unit that produced the souvenir is considered indirect output. This is because there was no direct connection between the manufacturer and the tourist. However, the retail margin associated with the product is considered as direct output, as the retail outlet has a direct relationship with the tourist.

It should be noted that products that are part of intermediate production to produce tourism products, are not included in indirect output in this account.

The economic impact of tourism is measured using several key concepts derived from the SNA. In the TSA these are all direct measures with the exception on indirect output in table 9.

Tourism expenditure: Purchasers’ prices (PP)

The amount visitors pay for the acquisition of goods and services, for own use or to give away, for and during tourism trips. It includes expenditures by visitors themselves, as well as expenses that are paid for or reimbursed by others. (IRTS 2008, para 4.2).

Tourism consumption: Purchasers’ prices (PP)

Tourism consumption is broader in scope than expenditure and includes imputations for the consumption by visitors of certain services for which they do not make an economically significant payment. These are separately identified in table 11. Imputed consumption in the Australian TSA include:

• Services provided by one household to the visiting members of another household free of charge, including the value of goods such as food, and purchased goods and services provided by host family/friends.
• Housing services provided by vacation homes on own account (imputed services of holiday homes deemed to be consumed by their visitor owners).
• Values of non-market services provided directly to visitors such as public museums or tourist information centres even though these may be provided free or at a price which is not economically significant.

Tourism Output: Basic Prices (BP)

The value of products produced that serve visitors before any taxes and margins on tourism products are added (or any subsidies on tourism products are deducted). Note, margins that have a direct relationship with tourists are included in total output at BP and allocated to the relevant margin product i.e., retail margins. BP prices valuation of output removes the distortion caused by variations in the incidence of commodity taxes and subsidies across the output of individual industries.

Tourism Gross Value Added (GVA)

Tourism GVA is measured as the value of the output at BP of tourism products by industries in a direct relationship with visitors less the value of the intermediate inputs used in producing these tourism products.

Tourism net taxes on products

Taxes less subsidies that are levied on the sale or transfer of goods and services that are directly related to a transaction with a visitor. Downstream taxes on products such as import duties are not considered a direct tourism tax on products.

Tourism Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Direct tourism GDP measures the sum of direct tourism GVA, plus direct taxes on products less direct subsidies on products associated with tourism expenditure. Direct tourism GDP is a satellite account construct to enable a comparison with the most widely recognised national accounting indicator, GDP.

Tourism Compensation of employees (COE)

The total remuneration, in cash or in kind, payable by an enterprise to an employee in return for work done to directly serve visitors. It comprises wages and salaries (in cash and in kind) and employers’ social contributions. COE does not include any unpaid work undertaken voluntarily or any taxes payable by the employer on the wage and salary bill such as payroll tax.

Tourism Gross Operating Surplus (GOS)

The surplus accruing from the production of direct tourism output of enterprises. GOS income are defined as GVA minus COE, minus net taxes on production.

Tourism net taxes on production

Taxes levied on the production process of direct tourism output, such as taxes on labour, capital, and land less subsidies on production.

Margins on tourism products

The output bringing a product from producer to the final consumer. For example, a retail margin represents the value added by the retail industry in the process of selling the product to the final consumer, while a transport margin represents the value added by the transportation industry in delivering the product from the producer to the retailer or the final consumer.

Tourism imports

Domestic consumption of products in the visitor economy that are produced overseas. Amounts payable to non-residents for the provision of tourism services to residents is excluded from the tourism estimate.

A job becomes a tourism-related job when it has a direct impact on tourism activity. A direct impact occurs where there is a direct relationship (physical and economic) between a visitor and the worker.

Jobs can be measured as

• The main job of a person. If a person is employed in multiple jobs only the main job is included.
• Filled jobs. This measure is based on the number of jobs held by people employed in main jobs as well as secondary jobs.

Trips undertaken by a non-resident visitor to Australia. Only consumption within Australia is included in the TSA.

Trips undertaken by Australian residents travelling to another country. Only consumption within Australia before and after the international trip is included in the TSA.

In this release information on Tourism Consumption by Australian Residents on Outbound Trips is presented. This includes the value of goods and services sourced from non-residents purchased by Australian residents in association with these trips. The difference in the estimates and the service debits memorandum item published in the balance of payments relate to any transactions between residents and non-residents which do not relate to the value of tourism goods and services purchased within Australian economic territory and expenditure by student travellers on long term visas (as they do not meet the definition of a visitor).

Balance of payments tourism related services credits are closely related to exports of tourism goods and services in the estimates of the value of domestically produced goods and services presented in the Tourism Consumption by Non-residents on Inbound Trips table in this release. The most significant differences occur because the Australian TSA excludes the expenditure of overseas students with a length of stay of greater than one year and non-resident to resident transactions which occur in other countries, i.e. delivery of services by Australian residents in other countries, both of which are included in the balance of payments. The other differences relate to the TSA imputations for non-market services provided to overseas visitors, margins on foreign exchange transactions and the value of products provided to overseas visitors within private households, these imputations are generally not recorded in the balance of payments.

Not all products and industries in standard national accounts product and industry classifications are related to tourism. Therefore, the TSA distinguishes between products and industries that are related to tourism, and those which are not. Tourism related products and industries are further classified into tourism characteristic and tourism connected.

These are products that would significantly diminish in quantity or whose sales would drastically drop in the absence of tourism. The international TSA standards recommend a core list of such products, which are significant in their connection to tourism on a global scale, to facilitate international comparisons. This core list aligns with the international product classification, specifically the Central Product Classification (CPC), Version 2.1 (CPC V2.1). See Appendix - tourism product correspondence for a concordance between tourism related products in the Australian TSA and products included in the CPC V2.1.

The international TSA standards also suggest identifying country-specific tourism characteristic products. In the context of the Australian TSA, a product is considered a country-specific tourism characteristic product if visitors consume at least 25% of its total output.

Tourism connected products are those that are consumed by visitors at a significant amount but are not considered as tourism characteristic products. All products that are not consumed by visitors in a significant amount are classified as 'all other goods and services' in the TSA.

These industries are defined as those that would either cease to exist in their current form or would be significantly impacted if tourism were to cease. The international standards recommend a core list of such industries, which have a significant connection to tourism on a global scale, to facilitate international comparisons. This core list aligns with the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) Revision 4 (ISIC Rev. 4), which closely aligns with the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) Revision 2.0. See Appendix - tourism industry correspondence for a concordance between tourism related industries and industries included in the ANZSIC.

In the context of the Australian TSA, an industry is considered a country-specific tourism characteristic industry if visitors consume at least 25% of its output. However, whether an industry is classified as characteristic or not does not affect the total value added resulting from tourism. The TSA measures the GVA resulting from the production of products directly consumed by visitors, not the total GVA generated by tourism-related industries.

Tourism connected industries are those, other than tourism characteristic industries, for which a tourism related product is directly identifiable to it, and where the products are consumed by visitors in volumes which are significant for the visitor and/or the producer. All other industries are classified as 'all other industries', though some of their products may be consumed by visitors and are included in the calculation of direct tourism GVA and direct tourism GDP.

The NVS asks Australian residents about their travel experiences both within Australia and overseas.  

Key use of data:

• Informs domestic tourism expenditure at PP for Australian residents.

The IVS measures the total spend within Australia by international visitors.

Key use of data:

• Informs expenditure at PP for international visitors in Australia.

The balance of payments summarises transactions between residents and non-residents during a specific period.

Key use of data:

• Informs expenditure on airline services from resident entities and the value of education exports.

Contains detailed national accounts estimates which are provided for GDP and its components, the national income account, the national capital account, the national financial account and the national balance sheet. Income, capital and financial accounts and a balance sheet are provided for each sector of the economy. Also provided is a range of information classified by industry, details of capital formation (including capital stocks) and productivity statistics.

Key use of data:

• Informs whole economy estimates for Australian production and GVA for direct comparison with tourism estimates.

The Input-Output tables provide information about the supply and use of products in the Australian economy, and the structure of and inter-relationships between Australian industries.

Key use of data:

• Informs BP price, margins, and taxes on products to purchase price (PP) ratios.

Supply-use tables are the building blocks for the ASNA as they are used to balance GDP for all three approaches (production, expenditure, and income) and provide the annual benchmarks (levels) from which the quarterly estimates are compiled. They provide detailed information about the supply and use of products in the Australian economy, and the structure of and interrelationships between Australian industries.

Key use of data:

• Informs primary input to output calculations.
• Informs consumption of items where market prices are not available, i.e., the value of services offered by tourist information centres and public art galleries.
• Informs which industries produce each tourism product.

The EAS is conducted every year in order to collect the most up-to date data on the economic health of Australian industries. The EAS includes a large sample of business/organisations across Australia, varying in size and industry, to best reflect the Australian economy.

Key use of data:

• Informs primary input to output calculations for industries where other data sources do not have sufficient detail.

The Australian Labour Account integrates data from various sources including household surveys, business surveys and administrative data to produce a coherent and internally consistent set of aggregate estimates of key labour market variables.

Key use of data:

• Provides whole of economy employment estimates by industry.

Provides information about the labour market activity of Australia's resident civilian population aged 15 years and over. The LFS is designed to primarily provide estimates of employment and unemployment for the whole of Australia, as well as for each state and territory.

Key use of data:

• Informs male/female and part-time/full-time job ratios.

Provides information on international travellers arriving in and departing from Australia.

Key use of data:

• Used in calculating the average spend per international visitor.
• Informs calculations for consumption of items where market prices are not available.

Step 1: Deriving Tourism output at Purchasers’ Prices (PP)

Step 2: Deriving tourism output at Basic Prices (BP)

Step 3: Splitting tourism output at Basic price (BP) to domestic production and imports

Step 4: Industry distribution of tourism products

Step 5: Allocate direct and indirect tourism activity

Step 6: Deriving Total Intermediate Use (TIU) and primary inputs

Step 1: Deriving Tourism output at Purchasers’ Prices (PP)

Estimates of tourism expenditure are mostly provided via the NVS and IVS. Data for airfare and education expenditure by international visitors is obtained from balance of payments while expenditure on gambling, purchase of motor vehicle, imputed rent on holiday homes and cost of maintaining holiday homes is obtained from the ASNA. In addition, information from the national accounts is used to derive consumption estimates for goods and services provided to visitors at discounted prices or for free. For example, admission to public galleries and food and lodgings provided by family members. The imputations are derived from a range of historic and current sources and assumptions.

Expenditure is allocated to tourism products and splits are made, when necessary, to do this. For example, the NVS and IVS collect expenditure on package and organised tours which for TSA purposes needs to be split into tourism product dimensions, such as accommodation, food and/or transport. (See classification section for an outline of tourism products). Adjustments are applied to ensure only domestic expenditure is captured. For example, a visitor may have acquired services from a travel agency at their place of residence.

This process delivers product level tourism expenditure by overseas travellers, residential travellers, and business/government travellers at PP.

Step 2: Deriving tourism output at Basic Prices (BP)

National accounts Input-Output tables are used to inform ratios of BP, margins, taxes, and subsidies for each product to output at PP. This process specifically used data related to household final consumption expenditure. These ratios are then applied to tourism output at PP estimates. As the Input-Output data is only available up to two years behind the reference period (referred to as T-2), calculated ratios are held constant for the forward two years.

The margin components of the above process that have a direct relationship to visitors (i.e., retail margins and some wholesale and transport margins), are added on to tourism output at BP and allocated to the appropriate margin product.

Step 3: Splitting tourism output at Basic price (BP) to domestic production and imports

For each tourism product, Australian production and import estimates are divided by total tourism production at BP (from the Supply Use tables and the Input-Output tables) to generate ratios. These ratios are multiplied by the tourism supply at BP estimates, in order to estimate Australian production and import estimates of products produced to serve the visitor economy at BP.

Input-Output net expenditure overseas (NEO) import adjustments conducted in the National Accounts are removed from the tourism import estimate informing the ratio. This is because domestically purchased products by visitors are not in scope of NEO imports.

Step 4: Industry distribution of tourism products

The supply matrix in the national accounts Supply Use tables is used to inform product level ratios of industry supply at BP. These ratios are applied to tourism output at BP by product. This provides tourism output by industry. These data are available up to the year behind the reference period (referred to as T-1) and are held constant for the current year.

Step 5: Allocate direct and indirect tourism activity

Direct and indirect tourism output is allocated according to the dimensions of the industry and product being provided. The allocation is informed by the general characteristics of the industry that supplies the product, the nature of the product itself, and the probability of a direct relationship with tourists.

Regarding the direct and indirect allocation of tourism taxes on products, all taxes on service products are categorised as direct taxes. In the case of goods, the ratio of downstream taxes to total taxes is calculated from the Input-Output tables and then applied to the tourism taxes on products estimate. These downstream taxes are then deducted from direct taxes and reassigned to indirect taxes. For the remaining taxes, a ratio is established using the proportion of the product retail margin to the product’s PP. This ratio is subsequently multiplied by the taxes on products, after downstream taxes have been subtracted, to ascertain the portion of the tax that is direct. The residual amount is then allocated to indirect taxes.

Step 6: Deriving Total Intermediate Use (TIU) and primary inputs

Ratios of Total Industry Intermediate Use (TIU) and primary inputs, which include Compensation of Employees (COE), Gross Operating Surplus (GOS), and taxes less subsidies on production, to the total output at basic prices (BP) for each industry are calculated from the Supply Use tables. These ratios are then applied to the industry-level direct tourism output at BP, resulting in the industry-level Gross Value Added (GVA), TIU, and primary inputs of the tourism economy. These data are available up to the year behind the reference period (referred to as T-1) and are held constant for the current year.

For industries where the Supply Use tables do not provide sufficient detail, the Income and Expenditure statement from the EAS is used.

Deriving tourism employment

The tourism GVA is divided by the total GVA for each industry to calculate a tourism GVA ratio. This ratio is then applied to the employment (filled jobs and main jobs) and hours worked estimates for each industry to determine the corresponding figures for tourism. The employment estimates for each industry are sourced from the Australian Labour Account. It is important to note that this method assumes a direct correlation between the employment generated by tourism and the value added by tourism in each industry.

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) provides part-time, full-time, male, and female employment statistics for each industry. These data are used to split the tourism estimates of filled jobs and main jobs.

Deriving tourism chain volume measures

Direct Tourism GVA - Tourism GVA chain volume estimates are derived from tourism output minus tourism intermediate use in prices of the previous period. A volume index is then compiled, and this index is chained taking account of the price relativities from year to year. The index is then converted to chain volume values by using the current price index ratio from the reference year.

Direct Tourism output - needs to be derived in volume terms to calculate tourism GVA. Tourism output product level deflators are a mix of consumer price indexes (CPI) and producer price indexes (PPI). These have been used to derive the prices in the previous year for each tourism sub-industry and total tourism output to derive tourism industry output volume index(es). This is then chained (linked) together to derive the chain volume index which is applied to the current price index ratio in order to arrive at chain volume estimates. The indexes are re-referenced to equal 100 in the reference year.

Direct Tourism intermediate use - chain volume estimates of tourism intermediate use (by tourism sub-industry) are estimated by deflating the corresponding tourism current price estimates. These estimates are deflated using industry level implicit price deflators (IPD) derived from unpublished Supply Use tables (for each tourism related industry). Implicit price deflators are used rather than a broader measure such as All groups CPI, as they are more reflective of the costs associated with producing the relevant industry's output. Adjustments are made as required to selected tourism industries' chain volume output or intermediate use estimates to ensure the GVA estimates are consistent with real world observations.

Direct Tourism Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - to arrive at tourism GDP, tourism GVA in prices of the previous period is added to tourism net taxes on products in prices of the previous period. A volume index is then compiled, and the index converted to chain volume values by using the current price ratio from the reference year.

Direct Tourism Consumption by Product - tourism consumption is deflated at the tourism product level, for example, accommodation services and taxi fares. The products are deflated using a mix of indexes from CPI and PPI, and the implicit price deflator for dwelling rent. Volume indexes are derived, chained and converted to chain volume values.

Tourism Implicit Price Deflator - the tourism implicit price deflator, or tourism price index, is calculated as the ratio of the current price value of tourism GVA (or Tourism GDP) to its corresponding chain volume value, multiplied by 100. The advantage of using an implicit price deflator for measuring price change for the tourism industry over a general measure of price change such as the CPI, is that the implicit price deflator accounts for compositional shifts in the basket of products consumed (or produced) from year to year, unlike the fixed weighted CPI. Users should be aware that implicit price deflators are revised annually with re-referencing and therefore are not recommended for purposes such as indexing in legal contracts.

Indexes

The indexes presented in Table 15 are based on a 2018-19 reference period. This period was chosen to illustrate the recovery trajectory from the COVID-19 era. For the 2023-24 account, it is planned that the reference period will revert to a basis of the preceding year (T-1).

To provide a more granular analysis of products and industries than what is usually available in national accounts, data modelling and certain assumptions are required. One such assumption is that the input-output relationships used to estimate tourism products by industry are consistent with the total production of the industry at large. However, it is important to note that this assumption may not always accurately represent real-world production characteristics.

The estimates presented in this publication are compiled from a diverse array of statistical sources. While some of these sources align closely with the desired national accounting framework, others do not, leading to variations in coverage, conceptual definitions, and timing. Many of the tourism industries and products are more granular or do not directly align with the industry and product details contained in the national Supply-Use tables. While concerted efforts have been made to enhance survey coverage of tourism industries, the derived estimates carry a higher degree of uncertainty compared to the less detailed estimates published in the national accounts.

Data on tourism expenditure, a crucial element of the TSA, are typically sourced from large-scale visitor surveys. These scientifically designed surveys, yield high-quality estimates, albeit with some degree of sampling variability. The confidence intervals for any given estimate are available in the respective NVS and IVS publications. To align the visitor survey data with the TSA’s requisite concepts and classifications, the data have been dissected and rearranged.

The most significant assumption in the compilation of a TSA relates to the use of the tourism product ratios and the tourism industry ratios in the calculation of tourism-related monetary and employment aggregates. The default assumption is that the input requirements of tourism and non-tourism output are identical for an industry. While this is likely to be a more valid assumption for fine level industries where industry output is relatively homogenous (such as the taxi transport industry), there will be some instances where the assumption may be less valid. This is more likely to be the case where the tourism specialisation ratio of the industry is low, and a diverse range of products are produced.

Estimates of employment figures and hours worked in the TSA are calculated by applying industry value added ratios to industry estimates sourced from the Australian Labour Account. It is assumed that the employment created by tourism within each industry is directly proportional to the value added by tourism. However, it’s important to note that there may be discrepancies in the timing between the increase or decrease in value added, particularly during periods of rapid inflationary growth, and changes in the number of jobs or work hours.

Most figures are subject to revision as more complete and accurate information becomes available.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many industries and led to structural changes in the economy. Robust methods, data confrontation and quality control processes are used to minimise the impact of measurement error. However, some inherent and unavoidable measurement error exists in all statistics.

The TSA estimates are constructed based on the most accurate data and information available at the time of estimation. Nevertheless, the construction of these estimates involves some modelling assumptions. Modelling error may increase during periods of rapid change. Additionally, these estimates are subject to revisions as more information becomes available over time.

2022-23

The 2022-23 account has implemented changes to the methodology to derive tourism output at basic price, tourism taxes on products, tourism margins and tourism imports. Data has been revised back to the previous annual coefficient benchmark i.e., 2019-20.

2021-22

Preliminary coefficient benchmarking was introduced using Supply Use data from the period prior to the current reference year. Time series data was only updated back to the previous full coefficient benchmark i.e., back to 2018-19. See Methodology page from the Tourism Satellite Account 2021-22 publication.

2020-21

Annual coefficient benchmarking was adopted to better reflect the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data for the benchmark is based on Input-Output data which is only available two years behind the current reference period. Time series data was only updated back to the previous benchmark i.e., back to 2016-17. See Methodology page from the Tourism Satellite Account 2020-21 publication.

2018-19

The last full benchmark was conducted where the full time series was updated.

The following table shows the correspondence between tourism related industries in the Australian Tourism Satellite Account and industries in the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC).

The following table shows how the tourism employment industries correspond with the tourism related industries in the table above.

Basic price (BP)

The amount receivable by the producer from the purchaser for a unit of a good or service, minus any margin and any tax payable (including deductible value added taxes) plus any subsidy receivable, as a result of production or sale of the unit.

Business and government tourism consumption

Also referred to as internal tourism consumption by domestic business and government visitors. Consists of the tourism consumption by resident businesses or governments on tourism related products within Australia.

Chain price indexes

Annually reweighted chain Laspeyres price indexes referenced to the same year as the chain volume measures. They can be thought of as a series of indexes measuring price change from a base year to the following year using current price values in the base year as weights, linked together to form a continuous time series. In other words, chain price indexes are constructed in a similar fashion to the chain volume indexes.

Chain volume measures

Measures growth in the volume of production and expenditures on products between any two periods of interest. Where there is more than one type of product, it is necessary to apply some kind of weighting. This is possible by valuing products at their prices in one or other period and dividing the total value of their combined production in the second period by that in the first. The same prices must be used for both periods to ensure the index reflects only changes in quantities produced. Chain linked volume indexes take account of changes to price relativities that occur from one year to the next. It is the price relativities that determine the weight given to each component of a volume index.

Compensation of employees (COE)

The total remuneration, in cash or in kind, payable by an enterprise to an employee in return for work done by the employee during the accounting period. COE is not payable in respect of unpaid work undertaken voluntarily, including the work done by members of a household within an unincorporated enterprise owned by the same household. COE excludes any taxes payable by the employer on the wage and salary bill (e.g. payroll tax).

Current prices

Estimates are valued at the prices of the period to which the observation relates. For example, estimates for 2014-15 are valued using 2014-15 prices. This contrasts to chain volume measures where the prices used in valuation refer to the prices of the previous year.

Direct tourism gross domestic product (GDP)

Equals direct tourism gross value added plus net taxes on products that are attributable to the tourism industry (tourism net taxes on products). Direct tourism GDP will generally have a higher value than direct tourism value added. Direct tourism GDP is a satellite account construct to enable a direct comparison with the most widely recognised national accounting aggregate, GDP. While it is useful in this context, the direct tourism gross value added measure should be used when making comparisons with other industries or between countries.

Direct tourism gross value added (GVA)

The value of direct tourism output at basic prices, less the value of the inputs used in producing these tourism products. This measure is directly comparable with the value added of 'conventional' industries such as mining and manufacturing and should also be used for comparisons across countries.

Direct tourism output

The value of goods and services, at basic prices, which are consumed by visitors and produced in Australia by industries in a direct relationship with visitors.

Domestic tourism consumption

Consists of the tourism consumption by resident visitors on tourism related products within Australia. It is the sum of household tourism consumption and business and government tourism consumption.

Employees

Employees are persons who work for a public or private employer and receive remuneration in wages, salary, a retainer fee from their employer while working on a commission basis, tips, piece rates, or payment in kind. Employees are engaged under a contract of service (an employment contract) and take directions from their employer/supervisor/manager/foreman on how work is performed.

Exports of goods and services

The value of goods exported and amounts receivable from non-residents for the provision of services by residents.

Filled jobs

Filled jobs refer to all positions of employment that are currently filled (including self-employment). Filled jobs can be measured from either household sources (such as the Labour Force Survey), or business sources (such as the Economic Activity Survey).

Full-time jobs

Includes employed person usually works 35 hours or more a week and those who, although usually working fewer than 35 hours a week, worked 35 hours or more during the reference week.

Gross domestic product (GDP)

The total market value of goods and services produced in Australia within a given period after deducting the cost of goods and services used up in the process of production but before deducting allowances for the consumption of fixed capital. Thus, GDP, as here defined, is 'at market prices'. It is equivalent to gross national expenditure plus exports of goods and services less imports of goods and services.

Gross operating surplus/Gross mixed income

The operating surplus accruing to all enterprises from their operations in Australia. It is the excess of gross output over the sum of intermediate consumption, COE, and taxes less subsidies on production and imports. It is calculated before deduction of consumption of fixed capital, dividends, interest, royalties and land rent, and direct taxes payable, but after deducting the inventory valuation adjustment.

Gross value added (GVA)

The value of output at basic prices minus the value of intermediate consumption at PP. The term is used to describe gross product by industry and by sector.

Hours worked

The hours worked by all labour engaged in the production of tourism goods and services, including hours worked by wages and salary earners, employers, self-employed persons, and persons working one hour or more without pay in a family business.

Household tourism consumption

Consists of the tourism consumption by resident households on tourism related products within Australia.

Implicit price deflators (IPD)

The ratio of the current price value of a series to its corresponding chain dollar value, multiplied by 100. Therefore, the tourism gross value added IPD is the ratio of the current price value of tourism value added to its corresponding chain volume value. This represents the net weighted prices of tourism output less weighted prices of intermediate use. Note that IPDs are subject to revision due to revisions in the relevant current price and/or chain volume estimates.

Imports purchased in Australia by visitors

The value of goods imported and purchased in Australia by domestic and international visitors.

Imputed consumption

Consists of imputations made for the consumption by visitors of certain goods and services for which they do not make a payment. Imputation is confined to a small number of cases where a reasonably satisfactory basis for the valuation of the implied transaction is available, and where their inclusion is consistent with the production boundary in the core national accounts.

Inbound trip

A trip undertaken by a non-resident visitor to Australia.

Intermediate consumption

Consists of the value of the goods and services used as inputs by a process of production, excluding compensation of employees and the consumption of fixed capital.

Internal tourism consumption

Consists of all tourism consumption of visitors, both resident and non-resident, within Australia. It is the sum of domestic tourism consumption and international tourism consumption.

International tourism consumption

Also referred to as internal tourism consumption by international visitors. Consists of the tourism consumption within Australia by non-residents on tourism related products.

Main jobs

Main job is the main activity carried out by an employed person. In the Australian context, this is the job in which most hours are usually worked. An employed person can only have one main job.

Margin

This is the difference between the resale price of a good and the cost to the retailer or wholesaler of the good sold. A transport margin consists of the transport charges invoiced separately by the producer in the delivery of a good.

Net taxes on products

Also referred to as taxes less subsidies on products. A tax or subsidy on a product is payable per unit of a good or service. The tax or subsidy may be a specific amount of money per unit of quantity of a good or service (quantity being measured either in terms of discrete units or continuous physical variables such as volume, weight, strength, distance, time, etc.), or it may be calculated ad valorem as a specified percentage of the price per unit or value of the goods or services transacted. A tax or subsidy on a product usually becomes payable when the product is produced, sold or imported, but it may also become payable in other circumstances, such as when a good is exported, leased, transferred, delivered, or used for own consumption or own capital formation.

Net taxes on production

Consist of all taxes that enterprises incur as a result of engaging in production, except taxes on products. Other taxes on production include: taxes related to the payroll or workforce numbers excluding compulsory social security contributions paid by employers and any taxes paid by the employees themselves out of their wages or salaries; recurrent taxes on land, buildings or other structures; some business and professional licences where no service is provided by the Government in return; taxes on the use of fixed assets or other activities; stamp duties; taxes on pollution; and taxes on international transactions.

Outbound tourism consumption

Also referred to as tourism imports. Consists of the tourism consumption by resident visitors outside of Australia while on an international trip.

Outbound trip

A trip undertaken by an Australian resident travelling to another country. 

Part-time jobs

Jobs filled by persons who usually worked fewer than 35 hours a week and either did so during the reference week or were not at work during the reference week.

Purchasers’ price (PP)

The amount paid by the purchaser, excluding any deductible tax, in order to take delivery of a unit of a good or service at the time and place required by the purchaser. The PP of a good includes any transport charges paid separately by the purchaser to take delivery at the required time and place.

Tourism

Comprises the activities of visitors.

Tourism characteristic industries

Are those industries that would either cease to exist in their present form, producing their present product(s), or would be significantly affected if tourism were to cease. In the Australian TSA, for an industry to be a country-specific tourism characteristic industry, at least 25 per cent of its output must be consumed by visitors.

Tourism characteristic products

These are defined in the international TSA standards as those products which would cease to exist in meaningful quantity, or for which sales would be significantly reduced, in the absence of tourism. In the Australian TSA, for a product to be a country-specific tourism characteristic product, at least 25 per cent of the total output of the product must be consumed by visitors.

Tourism connected industries

Are those, other than tourism characteristic industries, for which a tourism related product is directly identifiable (primary) to, and where the products are consumed by visitors in volumes which are significant for the visitor and/or the producer. All other industries are classified as non-tourism industries, though some of their products may be consumed by visitors and are included in the calculation of direct tourism gross value added and direct tourism GDP.

Tourism connected products

Are those that are consumed by visitors but are not considered as tourism characteristic products. All other products in the supply and use table not consumed by visitors are classified as 'all other goods and services' in the TSA.

Tourism consumption

Consists of tourism expenditure plus imputed consumption by resident and non-resident visitors on tourism related products, including those sold at prices that are not economically significant.

Tourism expenditure

Consists of the amount paid by a visitor or on behalf of a visitor for and during their trip and stay at the destination.

Tourism net taxes on tourism products

Consists of taxes paid less subsidies received on tourism related products which is attributable to productive activity of tourism related industries that are in a direct relationship with visitors. In the case of goods purchased by visitors, only the net taxes attributable to the value of retail trade services on those goods will be included.

Tourism output

The value of products produced that serve visitors before any taxes and margins on tourism products are added (or any subsidies on tourism products are deducted).

Tourism product ratio

This is the proportion of the total supply of a product which is consumed by visitors.

Tourism trip

This is defined in the international TSA standards as those trips which are taken by visitors.

Usual environment

This is made up of one or more areas in which a person undertakes their regular activities such as their residence, place of work, place of study and other places frequently visited. The usual environment criteria has two dimensions. Frequency means places that are visited on a routine basis (at least once a week) are considered part of a person's usual environment, even if the place visited is located a considerable distance from place of residence. Distance means locations close (up to 40 kilometres from home for overnight trips and up to 50 kilometres from home (round trip) for day trips) to the place of residence of a person are also included in their usual environment.

Visitor

A visitor is defined as any person 'taking a trip to a main destination outside their usual environment, for less than a year, for any main purpose (business, leisure or other personal purpose) other than to be employed by a resident entity in the country or place visited'.

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Industry, ABS, Canberra.

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian System of National Accounts, ABS, Canberra.

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian National Accounts: Input-Output Tables, ABS, Canberra.

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product, ABS, Canberra.

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia, ABS, Canberra.

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Household Expenditure Survey, Australia: Summary of Results, ABS, Canberra.

Australian Bureau of Statistics, International Trade in Goods, ABS, Canberra.

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, Quarterly, ABS, Canberra.

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia, ABS, Canberra.

European Commission, International Monetary Fund, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, United Nations and World Bank, System of National Accounts 2008 - 2008 SNA, Brussels/Luxemburg, New York, Paris, Washington DC, 2008.

International Monetary Fund, Sixth Edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6), IMF, Washington DC, 2008.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Measuring the Role of Tourism in OECD Economies, OECD, Paris, 2000.

Tourism Research Australia, Travel by Australians: Quarterly results of the National Visitor Survey, Austrade, Canberra.

Tourism Research Australia, International Visitors in Australia: Quarterly Results of the International Visitor Survey, Austrade, Canberra.

United Nations Statistics Division, Statistical Office of the European Communities, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, World Tourism Organisation, Tourism Satellite Account: Recommended Methodological Framework, 2008, Luxemburg, Madrid, New York, Paris: United Nations.

United Nations Statistics Division, World Tourism Organisation, International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics, 2008, Luxemburg, Madrid, New York, Paris: United Nations.