TOURIST ACCOMMODATION
PURPOSE
To provide information on the supply of, and demand for, tourist accommodation in Australia. This includes caravan parks, which are included as an industry in the Australian Culture and Leisure Classifications.
DESCRIPTION
The Survey of Tourist Accommodation (STA) is a quarterly mail-out collection completely enumerating all in-scope accommodation establishments. Since the March Quarter 1998, the scope of the STA each quarter has been hotels, motels, guest houses and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms. Every third year, beginning with 2000 the STA is expanded, for the four quarters, to include: holiday flats and units of letting entities with 15 or more rooms or units; caravan parks with 40 or more powered sites; and visitor hostels with 25 or more bed spaces. Thus, data for caravan parks are only available for four consecutive quarters out of every twelve.
GEOGRAPHIC COVERAGE
Australia
FREQUENCY OF COLLECTION
Quarterly. Note, however, that the information relating to caravan parks is only collected for the four quarters in every third year.
DATA ITEMS
Types of accommodation establishment
Licensed hotels with facilities
Motels and guest houses with facilities
Serviced apartments
Holiday flats, units and houses let by real estate agents
Holiday flats, units and houses let by other letting entities
Short-term caravan parks
Long-term caravan parks
Visitor hostels
Accommodation supply - hotels, motels, guest houses and serviced apartments
Measures of capacity, and the nature of establishments, at the end of each quarter are:
Number of establishments
Number of guest rooms
Number of bed spaces
Star grading of establishment (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and ungraded)
Accommodation supply - holiday flats, units and houses
Measures of capacity at the end of each quarter are:
Number of letting entities
Number of single bedroom flats, units or houses
Number of multiple bedroom flats, units or houses
Number of bed spaces
Accommodation supply - caravan parks
Measures of capacity at the end of each quarter are:
Number of establishments
Number of on-site vans
Number of other powered sites
Number of unpowered sites
Number of cabins, flats, etc.
Accommodation supply - visitor hostels
Measures of capacity at the end of each quarter are:
Number of establishments
Number of bed spaces
Accommodation demand - hotels, motels, guest houses and serviced apartments
Measures of usage in each month of the reference quarter are:
Number of room nights occupied
Number of guest nights
Number of guest arrivals
Takings from accommodation
Accommodation demand - holiday flats, units and houses
Measures of usage in each month of the reference quarter are:
Number of unit nights
Number of unit lettings
Takings from accommodation
Accommodation demand - caravan parks
Measures of usage in each month of the reference quarter are:
Number of site nights
Takings from accommodation
Measures of long-term accommodation usage at the end of the reference quarter are:
Number of sites permanently occupied
Number of sites permanently reserved
Accommodation demand - visitor hostels
Measures of usage in each month of the reference quarter are:
Number of guest nights
Number of guest arrivals
Takings from accommodation
Employment
The number of people working for each establishment during the last pay period of the reference quarter, in the following categories:
Permanent full-time employees
Permanent part-time employees
Casual employees
Performance ratios
Using the collected data a number of standard derived items are produced, i.e. statistics which are either ratios or averages of some of the data items shown above. These include:
Room/unit/site occupancy rate
Bed occupancy rate (hotels etc. and visitor hostels)
Average length of stay
Average takings per establishment
Average takings per room night occupied
Average takings per available room night
Average takings per guest night
Geographic area
Australia, States and Territories, Tourism Regions (as defined by relevant State and Territory Tourist Commissions or equivalent organisations) and Statistical Local Areas.
HISTORICAL DATA
The quarterly survey was first conducted in respect of the September quarter 1975, although it excluded caravan parks and did not cover the Northern Territory. The September quarter 1977 saw the inclusion of the Northern Territory, short-term caravan parks (with no size cut-off). Long-term caravan parks were added in the September quarter 1986 (no size cut-off). Several other changes to the collection over time are described in the Tourist Accommodation (Survey of) entry in the Directory of Statistical Sources and in the December quarter 2000 issue of Tourism Indicators (see below for details). In March 1998, substantial changes were made to the scope of the collection which is now as shown in the Description section above. These changes were implemented to reduce the load on smaller businesses. To complement the STA series, the ABS produces annual counts of accommodation establishments and their capacity as at the end of December of each year and presents them, in a format that allows comparisons to be made with STA collections prior to 1998, annually in Tourism Indicators.
DISSEMINATION
Publications
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Tourism Indicators, Australia, Cat. no. 8634.0, ABS, Canberra. Price $29.00. Released quarterly until the September quarter of 2002.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Tourist Accommodation, Australia, Cat. no. 8635.0, ABS, Canberra. Price $31.00. Released quarterly.
Other
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Tourist Accommodation, Small Area Data, New South Wales - Electronic Delivery, Cat. no. 8635.1.55.001, data report, ABS, Canberra. Free of charge. Released quarterly from the March quarter of 2003.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Tourist Accommodation, Small Area Data, Victoria - Electronic Delivery, Cat. no. 8635.2.55.001, data report, ABS, Canberra. Free of charge. Released quarterly from the March quarter of 2003.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Tourist Accommodation, Small Area Data, Queensland - Electronic Delivery, Cat. no. 8635.3.55.001, data report, ABS, Canberra. Free of charge. Released quarterly from the March quarter of 2003.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Tourist Accommodation, Small Area Data, South Australia - Electronic Delivery, Cat. no. 8635.4.55.001, data report, ABS, Canberra. Free of charge. Released quarterly from the March quarter of 2003.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Tourist Accommodation, Small Area Data, Western Australia - Electronic Delivery, Cat. no. 8635.5.55.001, data report, ABS, Canberra. Free of charge. Released quarterly from the March quarter of 2003.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Tourist Accommodation, Small Area Data, Tasmania - Electronic Delivery, Cat. no. 8635.6.55.001, data report, ABS, Canberra. Free of charge. Released quarterly from the March quarter of 2003.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Tourist Accommodation, Small Area Data, Northern Territory - Electronic Delivery, Cat. no. 8635.7.55.001, data report, ABS, Canberra. Free of charge. Released quarterly from the March quarter of 2003.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Tourist Accommodation, Small Area Data, Australian Capital Territory - Electronic Delivery, Cat. no. 8635.8.55.001, data report, ABS, Canberra. Free of charge. Released quarterly from the March quarter of 2003.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Tourist Accommodation, New South Wales, Cat. no. 8635.1.40.001, data report, ABS, Canberra. Free of charge. Released quarterly until the December quarter of 2002.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Tourist Accommodation, Victoria, Cat. no. 8635.2.40.001, data report, ABS, Canberra. Free of charge. Released quarterly until the December quarter of 2002.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Tourist Accommodation, Queensland, Cat. no. 8635.3.40.001, data report, ABS, Canberra. Free of charge. Released quarterly until the December quarter of 2002.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Tourist Accommodation, South Australia, Cat. no. 8635.4.40.001, data report, ABS, Canberra. Free of charge. Released quarterly until the December quarter of 2002.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Tourist Accommodation, Western Australia, Cat. no. 8635.5.40.001, data report, ABS, Canberra. Free of charge. Released quarterly until the December quarter of 2002.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Tourist Accommodation, Tasmania, Cat. no. 8635.6.40.001, data report, ABS, Canberra. Free of charge. Released quarterly until the December quarter of 2002.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Tourist Accommodation, Northern Territory, Cat. no. 8635.7.40.001, data report, ABS, Canberra. Free of charge. Released quarterly until the December quarter of 2002.
National Sport and Recreation Industry Database and Directory (NSRIDD).
CONTACT
In the first instance, refer to To obtain data or further information in the Introduction to this directory.
Manager
Tourism, Services Industries and Technology Statistics
Australian Bureau of Statistics
GPO Box 9817
BRISBANE QLD 4001
Telephone: Brisbane 07 3222 6118
Facsimile: Brisbane 07 3222 6284
Email: client.services@abs.gov.au