9502.0.55.001 - Framework for Australian Tourism Statistics, 2003  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 23/09/2003   
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Contents >> Chapter 3. The Typical Measures >> Typical Measures For Consumer

NUMBER OF VISITORS

95. The number of visitors is the basic unit of measurement of the various types of visitors to a destination.


PURPOSE OF VISIT

96. Data on the purpose of visit allows identification of the various types of visitors. Each type of visitor will have their own behavioural, product consumption and expenditure patterns.

97. It is common for a visitor to have more than one purpose of visit. For example, a person travelling primarily for business reasons may extend the visit for holiday purposes. It may be useful in some cases to collect both the main purpose of visit and secondary purpose of visit. Before doing so however, it would be useful to consider how and if data on secondary purposes would be used.

98. The United Nations/World Tourism Organisation standards define a main purpose of visit as 'the purpose in the absence of which the trip would not have taken place'.

99. This definition is easily applied to most visitors. For some visitors it is more complex. Typical cases include:

(a) Dependents or other persons accompanying travellers, such as children, spouses or servants. These persons should be allocated the same purpose of visit as the accompanied traveller, on the basis that they would not be visiting if the accompanied person had not been visiting. (For example, a person accompanying his/her spouse on a business trip should categorise business as the main purpose of travel, even though s/he may primarily be travelling for pleasure purposes. The pleasure trip would not have taken place if the business trip had not occurred.)

(b) A person who travels to a place for business purposes but who stays on for pleasure purposes. While most of the activities and expenditure might relate to the pleasure stay, the main purpose of visit is identified as business since the trip would not have occurred had it not been for the business component.

100. The international standard can be accessed via the following link UN/WTO classification. It is recommended that the following classification be used within Australia.

AUSTRALIAN CLASSIFICATION OF PURPOSE OF VISIT
Category
Classification
1.Leisure, recreation and holidays
1.1Holidays
1.2Sport
1.3Shopping
1.4Other personal activities
2.Visiting friends and relatives
3.Business and professional
3.1Business
3.2Convention/conference
3.3Training and research
4.Education (including school excursions)
5.Other
5.1Health treatment
5.2Religion/pilgrimages
5.3All others
6.Employment/leisure


101. As discussed in Chapter 2, The Consumer, persons travelling for employment purposes are not included in the definition of visitors. For this reason employment is not included as a purpose of visit. In Australia however, significant numbers of people travel for temporary employment purposes and spend part of their trip on leisure activities. Statistics on such travellers may be required even though they are not officially defined as visitors. It is recommended that in such cases, data be collected on such travellers. These travellers should then be identified under the separate category 6 Employment/leisure. Where the trip is predominantly for leisure purposes, the purpose of visit should be recorded as category 1 Leisure, recreation and holidays.

102. The purpose of visit classification distinguishes between training and education. Category 3.3 Training and research is included as a subset of category 3 Business and professional. It comprises persons who are in the workforce in their place of residence and who are undertaking some form of training or research relating to their job. Category 4 Education comprises persons who are not in the workforce in their place of residence and who are undertaking longer term education (e.g. students).


DATE OF ARRIVAL

103. The month a visitor arrives at a destination should be recorded to provide seasonal data on visitor movements. For some surveys (e.g. household surveys of domestic visitors) it may be more practicable to classify visitors according to the month they returned to their usual place of residence.


DURATION OF VISIT, STAY OR TRIP

104. The duration of stay is the measurement used from the destination standpoint (i.e. number of nights spent in the country or place in question). The duration of trip is the measure used by the origin country or place (i.e. how many nights spent away from the country or place in question).

105. The following intervals are recommended when classifying duration of stay or trip for overnight visitors.

CLASSIFICATION OF DURATION OF VISIT FOR OVERNIGHT VISITORS
Interval
Number of nights
1.1- 3 nights
1.11 night
1.22 - 3 nights
2.4 - 7 nights
3.8 - 28 nights
3.18 - 14 nights
3.215 - 21 nights
3.322 - 28 nights
4.29 - 91 nights
4.129 - 42 nights
4.243 - 56 nights
4.357 - 70 nights
4.471 - 91 nights
5.92 - 365 nights
5.192 - 182 nights
5.2183 - 365 nights


106. The following intervals are recommended when classifying duration of stay or trip for same-day visitors (i.e. visitors staying less than 24 hours).

CLASSIFICATION OF DURATION OF VISIT FOR SAME-DAY VISITORS
Interval
Number of hours
1.less than 3 hours
1.1less than 2 hours
1.22 hours
2.3 - 5 hours
2.13 hours
2.24 hours
2.35 hours
3.6 - 8 hours
3.16 hours
3.27 hours
3.38 hours
4.9 - 11 hours
5.12 hours or more



PLACE OF RESIDENCE

107. The country of residence of an international visitor is defined as the country in which the visitor:

(a) has lived for most of the past 12 months

(b) has lived in for a shorter period and intends to return to within 12 months to live.

108. There are a number of classifications of countries and territories developed for specific purposes. One such system is the Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC). This system was developed by the ABS after consultation with interested potential users, including tourism organisations. The classification system is recommended for adoption by both collectors and users of tourism statistics.


Place of residence for domestic visitors

109. The ABS developed the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) for use in the collection and publication of ABS and other statistics. This is updated annually. It is recommended that the ASGC be adopted as the classification for identifying place of residence of domestic visitors. This will allow comparisons between tourism statistical collections and other ABS collections which may or may not be directly related to tourism (e.g. the population census and labour force surveys). The ASGC incorporates a number of types of geographical areas or spatial units. For tourism statistics, it is recommended that people adopt a hierarchical system comprising in ascending order:
  • Statistical Local Areas (SLAs)
  • Statistical Subdivisions (SSDs)
  • Statistical Divisions (SDs)
  • States and territories (S/Ts).


NATIONALITY

110. For international visitors, it may be of interest (e.g. for market research purposes) to have data on country of citizenship, in addition to country of residence.

111. The nationality of a visitor is that of the government issuing his/her passport (or other identification document) even if s/he normally resides in another country.

112. The Standard Australian Classification of Countries can be used to classify nationality.


DESTINATION

113. The Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) should be used to define the boundaries of destination regions. Regions can be defined in terms of groups of Statistical Local Areas (the smallest spatial unit of the ASGC apart from Census Collection Districts which apply to the Population Census). This enables comparison or linkage of tourism data with other collections.

114. The ABS and the Bureau of Tourism Research publish data for Tourism Regions. It is important to be able to compare tourism regional statistics with other regional statistics. For this reason a comparison between the standard Tourism Regions and the ASGC (which provides the standard regions for other official statistics) is needed. Tourism Regions are aggregations of SLAs. The ABS provides concordances between SLAs and Tourism Regions. These concordances, together with maps of the Tourism Regions, can be accessed via the Tourism Regions link, above.

115. Each tourism trip can have only one main destination even though several destinations may be visited. The main destination is defined as 'the place or country where more time was spent than in any other during the trip'. For overnight visits the main destination is the place in which most nights were spent. If the number of nights spent in two or more places is the same, the main destination should be considered to be the place furthest from the visitor's usual place of residence.


AGE

116. Age data on visitors should be classified according to the age (in years) of visitors as at their last birthday. Months should be ignored (e.g. a visitor who is 14 years and 10 months of age should be classified as age 14). This is consistent with other data series, such as the population census. It is also consistent with the system of price discounting for age groups used by many organisations, such as airlines.

117. The following suggested classification of ages is designed to broadly reflect five major market segments:

(a) Children, mainly travelling with their parents

(b) Youths

(c) Relatively young, economically active people

(d) Middle-aged, economically active people

(e) Retired people.

118. Age ranges for each market segment are provided below. For the first segment (children), a further breakdown is suggested to provide greater detail.

CLASSIFICATION OF VISITOR AGE GROUPS

Market segment

Category

Age in years at last birthday

Children

1.

0 - 14 years


1.1

less than 1 year


1.2

1 - 5 years


1.3

6 - 11 years


1.4

12 - 14 years




Youths

2.

15 - 24 years




Relatively young

3.

25 - 44 years




Middle-aged

4.

45 - 64 years




Retired people

5.

65 years and over




MARITAL STATUS

119. It is recommended that the classification below be adopted for marital status.

CLASSIFICATION OF MARITAL STATUS
Category
Classification
1.Married (including de facto)
2.Separated/divorced
3.Widowed
4.Never married


120. The classification 'married' should include de facto relationships and marriages resulting from traditional, customary tribal or modern ceremonies, whether legally registered or not. Where a visitor is separated (or widowed) but is now in a de facto relationship s/he should be classified as married.


LEVEL OF EDUCATION

121. The level of education should be identified as the highest level of education completed. The following classification is recommended.

CLASSIFICATION OF EDUCATION LEVEL

Level
Classification
1.Primary education not completed
2.Completed primary education
3.Completed secondary education
4.Completed post-secondary vocational or technical training
5.Completed bachelor degree or higher


122. 'Primary education not completed' includes individuals who may or may not currently be attending primary school but who have not completed all grades.

123. 'Completed primary education' includes individuals who have completed primary school and who are currently either not attending school or are attending secondary school.

124. 'Completed secondary education' includes individuals who have completed secondary school and who are currently either not attending school or are attending a post-secondary institution.

125. 'Completed post-secondary vocational or technical training' only includes qualifications which require at least one year full-time study (or part-time equivalent). Completion of short-term courses should not be included.


ECONOMIC ACTIVITY STATUS

126. The economic activity status of a visitor relates to his/her normal daily economic activity or lack of such activity. The classification below is based on International Labour Organisation (ILO) standards.

CLASSIFICATION OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITY STATUS
Category
Classification
1.In the labour force
1.1Employed
1.2Unemployed
2.Not in the labour force
2.1Students
2.2Homemakers
2.3Income recipients
2.4Others


127. 'Employed' comprises persons who immediately prior to the trip were working for payment, profit, commission or payment in kind or as a contributing family worker (i.e. in a family business or subsistence work). It should include employers, as well as employees. (Note: temporary absence from work immediately prior to the trip should be ignored.) It should also include persons who are working part-time.

128. 'Unemployed' comprises persons who immediately prior to the trip did not have a job but were actively looking for full-time or part-time work and were available to start work.

129. 'Not in labour force: Others' includes persons in institutions or otherwise unable to work.


OCCUPATION

130. The ABS publication Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO), Second Edition (1997) provides a classification that can be used to categorise visitors. The structure of ASCO is based on the kind of work performed defined in terms of two broad criteria, skill level and skill specialisation.


INCOME LEVEL

131. The following classification is based on the standard income ranges used in the 2001 Australian Population Census. This classification is recommended when classifying visitor income data.

CLASSIFICATION OF INCOME LEVELS
Weekly income
Annual salary equivalent
($A)
($A)
Nil (or negative)
Nil (or negative)
1-791-4,159
80-1594,160-8,319
160-2998,320-15,599
300-49915,600-25,999
500-69926,000-36,399
700-99936,400-51,948
1,000-1,49952,000-77,999
1,500-plus78,000-plus


132. Groupings of these income ranges should be used for small sample surveys.

133. Income recorded should be gross income (i.e. before tax and other deductions) for the 12 months prior to undertaking the trip. It should include:
  • wages
  • salaries
  • overtime
  • dividends
  • interest
  • family allowance
  • pensions
  • rents received
  • business or farm income (less operating expenses)
  • superannuation
  • worker compensation.

134. Income data for international visitors should be collected in the currency of their country of residence and converted to Australian dollars ($AUD) using the exchange rate in effect at the time of the survey.


NUMBER OF PERSONS IN PARTY

135. A visitor might travel as part of a party and/or a group. A party comprises a number of visitors travelling together and whose expenditure is from a common pool. A typical example is a family unit on holiday together. A group comprises a number of visitors travelling together but who are each responsible for their own expenditure. A typical example would be people travelling on the same bus tour. A group could comprise a number of parties, as well as individual travellers.

136. The size and make-up of the party in which a visitor is travelling can have a significant effect on his/her trip activity and expenditure. Persons travelling alone have different patterns of activity and expenditure from those travelling in a party.

137. For some studies, it may be necessary to allocate a proportion of the total party expenditure to individuals within the party. As a broad recommendation total expenditure might be broken down on the basis of expenditure by:

(a) infants less than 1 year old as nil

(b) children 1 - 5 years old as 10% of that of an adult

(c) youths 6 - 14 years old being 75% of that of an adult.

138. For research purposes, it might be useful to know how many people are travelling in parties. This data could be more useful if, for example, the data were cross-tabulated with the age distribution of the party members, as set out below:



No. in party

AGE DISTRIBUTION INTERVAL


0 - 14 years

15 - 24 years

25 - 44 years

45 - 64 years

65 years and over







1

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. .

. .

2

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. .

. .

. .

. .

3

. .

. .

. .

. .

. .

etc.

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