5249.0 - Australian National Accounts: Tourism Satellite Account, 2008-09  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 04/06/2010   
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ANALYSIS OF RESULTS


KEY RESULTS

Diagram: Key results

Tourism is not an industry or product in international statistical standards but it is commonly considered an industry by tourism researchers and economic analysts. In the Australian Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), the direct contribution of the tourism industry to the Australian economy has been measured using the demand generated by visitors and the supply of tourism products by domestic producers.

Selected Tourism aggregates
Graph: Selected Tourism aggregates


Internal tourism consumption is the total value of goods and services consumed by both resident and non-resident visitors within Australia. It is measured in purchasers' prices (the price paid by the tourism consumer). In 2008-09 internal tourism consumption decreased by 1.0% to $92,003m. The receipts of Australian producers of tourism goods and services exclude product taxes like the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and include subsidies (collectively known as net taxes). In 2008-09 net taxes on tourism products decreased by 1.5% to $6,906m.

Imported goods and services consumed by visitors are not part of domestic production by Australian industries. The cost to retailers of imported goods sold directly to visitors increased by 10.5% to $7,582m in 2008-09. Over the same period, internal tourism consumption at basic prices (internal tourism consumption at purchaser prices less imports and net taxes on tourism products) has decreased by 1.9% to $77,514m.

In the case of retail goods purchased by visitors, the new international standard states that only the retail margin will contribute to direct tourism output, value added and Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is because it is deemed that only the retailer has a direct relationship with the visitor and is therefore part of the tourism industry. As a consequence the output, and consequently value added, attributed to other (than retail) industries will be excluded from the value of direct tourism output. Direct tourism output is therefore equal to internal tourism consumption at basic prices less the cost to retailers of domestic goods sold directly to visitors. In 2008-09, direct tourism output has decreased by 1.3% to $62,425m.

When producing tourism goods and services Australian businesses use goods and services produced and supplied by other businesses. These are known as intermediate inputs and in 2008-09 decreased by 2.2% to $32,414m.


DIRECT TOURISM GROSS VALUE ADDED

Industry gross value added measures the value of production exclusive of product taxes such as the GST. It is the preferred national accounts measure of the production of industries because it is free from distortions in prices caused by changes in tax rates or the introduction of new taxes.

Direct tourism gross value added is calculated by subtracting tourism intermediate inputs from direct tourism output at basic prices. In 2008-09 direct tourism gross value added decreased by 0.3% to $30,012m. Total industry gross value added increased by 6.0% to $1,156,900m, representing a decrease in tourism share of value added from 2.8% to 2.6%. When comparing tourism to other industries and the total economy it must be understood that tourism is not a distinct industry, rather it comprises a portion of the economic activity classified to ANZSIC industries in the core national accounts.

GROWTH IN INDUSTRY GROSS VALUE ADDED, Current Prices
Graph: GROWTH IN INDUSTRY GROSS VALUE ADDED, Current Prices



DIRECT TOURISM GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (DIRECT TOURISM GDP)

Direct tourism GDP is calculated by adding tourism net taxes on products to direct tourism gross value added. In the case of goods, tourism net taxes on products will only include the net taxes attributable to retail trade activities, consistent with the derivation of other tourism supply measures. In 2008-09 direct tourism GDP decreased by 0.4% to $32,828m in contrast to GDP for the Australian economy which grew by 6.0%.

All the aggregates above are presented in current price terms, and so include the effects of price change as well as the volume of tourism activity. Volume estimates of tourism have not been compiled because of conceptual issues involved in deflating the supply side estimates. In the absence of volume estimates, the tourism share of industry GDP is presented. In 2008-09 the tourism share of GDP was 2.6%, a decrease of 0.2% on 2007-08. Prior to 2008-09, tourism share of GDP had remained at 2.8% for two years following a steady decline since a peak of 3.4% in 2000-01. While the peak in 2000-01 was heavily impacted by price increases in tourism services, resulting from the introduction of the GST and the volume impact of the Olympic Games, the overall trend of declining share has continued over a long period.

The key factor behind the fall in the tourism share of GDP in 2008-09 is that value added of the tourism industry declined whilst the Australian economy as a whole expanded. In addition, Australians travelled less in Australia and more overseas, as reflected by the decrease in domestic tourism consumption of 2.6%, compared to total consumption by Australians overseas which rose 3.2% in 2008-09.


COMPONENTS OF TOURISM INDUSTRY GROSS VALUE ADDED

Accommodation; Air, water and other transport; Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services and Other retail trade continue to be the most important tourism industries, together accounting for over 57.2% of direct tourism gross value added in 2008-09.

The TSA methodology involves estimating a benchmark using fully balanced supply and use tables every third year. The benchmark years of 1997-98, 2000-01, 2003-04 and 2006-07 established the relationships between tourism consumption (demand) and tourism industry output (supply). The results from the 2006-07 benchmark compared to the 2003-04 benchmark showed a reduced contribution by tourism to industry gross value added for most tourism industries. Any increases to the contribution by tourism to industry gross value added were less than 1 percentage point, with the exception of the Travel agency and tour operator services industry where the contribution rose from 95.6% in 2003-04 to 97.7% in 2006-07.

Growth in Tourism Value Added, Selected Industries
Graph: Growth in Tourism Value Added, Selected Industries


Direct tourism gross value added decreased by $87m (-0.3%) in 2008-09 to $30,012m. The industries representing the largest contributors to the decrease in tourism gross value added in this period were Air, water and other transport (down $286m, -5.7%), Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (down $109m, -3.2%), Travel agencies and tour operator services (down $64m, -4.2%) and Other retail trade (down $63m, -1.6%). The largest positive contributors to direct tourism gross value added were Education and training (up $294m, 14.6%) and Ownership of dwellings (up $238m, 11.1%).

Selected Tourism Industries, Growth in Industry Value Added, 2003-04 to 2006-07
Graph: Selected Tourism Industries, Growth in Industry Value Added, 2003-04 to 2006-07



COMPONENTS OF TOURISM CONSUMPTION

Internal tourism consumption decreased by 1.0% to $92,003m in 2008-09 following growth in 2007-08 (4.8%) and in the five previous periods. Domestic tourism consumption decreased by 2.6% to $68,456m and international tourism consumption increased by 3.9% to $23,546m.

In the period 2008-09, domestic tourism consumption represents 74.4% of total tourism consumption, whereas international consumption represents 25.6%. The international component of total internal tourism consumption has increased in share for the third successive year from 23.9% in 2005-06.

Growth in Total, domestic and international tourism consumption
Graph: Growth in Total, domestic and international tourism consumption


Of the 2.6% decrease in domestic tourism consumption in 2008-09, consumption by households decreased by $1,147m (-1.9%) and consumption by business and government decreased by $665m (-5.9%).

The major contributors to the decrease in domestic tourism consumption in this period were Long distance passenger transportation (down $780m, -7.5%), Takeaway and restaurant meals (down $506m, -4.3%), Accommodation services (down $190m, -2.7%), Motor vehicles, caravans, boats, etc (down $231m, -12.0%) and Alcoholic beverages and other beverages (down $214m, -6.3%). The major contributors to the increase in international tourism consumption were Education services, Shopping (including gifts and souvenirs) and Accommodation services, up 15.3%, 7.4% and 4.4% respectively.

SHARE OF TOURISM CONSUMPTION, Selected tourism products - By type of visitor: 2008-09

Households
Business/government
International
All visitors
%
%
%
%

Long distance passenger transportation
10.4
33.7
22.4
16.1
Takeaway & restaurant meals
16.7
14.9
10.1
14.8
Shopping (including gifts and souvenirs)
17.1
0.0
12.0
13.8
Accommodation services
8.3
19.6
14.0
11.1
Fuel (petrol, diesel)
10.4
12.3
1.7
8.4
Food products
9.3
2.2
7.4
8.0
Alcoholic beverages and other beverages
4.9
3.5
4.3
4.6
Taxi fares
0.4
2.5
1.1
0.8
All other tourism products
22.5
11.2
27.0
22.4
Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0



The major contributors to total tourism consumption continue to be Long distance passenger transportation, Takeaway and restaurant meals, Shopping (including gifts and souvenirs) and Accommodation services. Combined, these products contribute 55.9% of total tourism consumption in 2008-09. This combined contribution to total tourism consumption is down 0.7% on 2007-08, mainly driven by decreases in contribution to total tourism consumption of 0.8% for consumption of Long distance passenger transportation (down $890m) and 0.3% for consumption of Takeaway and restaurant meals (down $447m).


INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN TOURISM

Tourism exports are domestically produced goods and services consumed by international visitors to Australia. Tourism imports are consumption of overseas produced goods and services by Australians on overseas trips. Since 2004-05 tourism imports have exceeded tourism exports, resulting in deficits in the tourism balance of trade (tourism exports less tourism imports). In 2008-09 the deficit totalled $3,896m..

International Trade in Tourism
Graph: International Trade in Tourism



TOURISM EMPLOYED PERSONS

The tourism industry employed 486,200 persons in 2008-09, a decrease of 1,400 (0.3%) on 2007-08. This compares with an increase of 1.2% in total employed persons in the Australian economy. Tourism share of total employment has decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 4.5% when compared to 2007-08. Since 2001-02, the tourism share of total employment has decreased by 0.5 percentage points.


VISITOR NUMBERS

The negative growth in tourism consumption in 2008-09 (down 1.0%) compared with the positive growth in 2007-08 (4.8%) was driven mainly by a decrease in the number of visitors in 2008-09 when compared with 2007-08. Between 2007-08 and 2008-09 domestic trips decreased by 0.8%. This was driven by decreases in the number of overnight trips (down 7.1%) and partially offset by the number of domestic day trips (accounting for 67.8% of domestic trips) which increased by 2.6% over the same period. When comparing 2008-09 with 2007-08, the number of international trips decreased by 1.6% on the back of a 0.2% decrease between 2006-07 and 2007-08. The overall decrease in the number of international visitors to Australia was driven mainly by falls in the number of visitors from Japan, Korea and the United Kingdom.

The number of Australians travelling overseas grew by 2.5% in 2008-09, with the growth driven by increased number of Australians visiting Indonesia and New Zealand. This is the lowest growth in Australians travelling overseas since a decline in 2002-03.


IMPACT OF IMPLEMENTATION OF REVISED INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS

The previous approach in the Australian TSA was to treat the entire value of the expenditure by the visitor on goods as constituting the value of the direct relationship with the producer and therefore being reflected in tourism output. The revised international standard (TSA: RMF 2008) recommends that only the retail margin will contribute to direct tourism output and value added. This is because in the case of retail goods, it is deemed that only the retailer has a direct relationship with the visitor and is therefore part of the tourism industry.

IMPLEMENTATION OF REVISED INTERNATIONAL STANDARD, Selected tourism aggregates 2007-08 and 2008-09


New Standard
2007-08
2008-09
Direct tourism output ($m)
63,234
62,425
Direct tourism gross value added ($m)
30,098
30,012
Tourism net taxes on products ($m)
2,865
2,816
Direct tourism GDP
32,963
32,828
Tourism share of gross value added (%)
2.8
2.6
Tourism share of GDP (%)
2.8
2.6
Old Standard
2007-08
2008-09
Tourism output ($m)
79,471
77,514
Tourism gross value added ($m)
35,075
34,539
Net taxes on tourism products ($m)
7,013
6,906
Tourism GDP ($m)
42,088
41,446
Tourism share of gross value added (%)
3.2
3.0
Tourism share of GDP (%)
3.6
3.3



Tourism output and tourism gross value added, as measured prior to the implementation of the revised international standard, included the supply to retailers of domestic goods sold directly to visitors. Calculated under the old standard, tourism gross value added would be $34,539m in 2008-09. The tourism share of gross value added decreased by 0.2 percentage points in 2008-09 when compared with 2007-08, irrespective of the revised international standard.

Tourism GDP has previously been calculated by adding net taxes on tourism products to tourism gross value added. Using this method, tourism GDP would be $41,446m in 2008-09, representing a drop in the tourism share of GDP from 3.6% in 2007-08 to 3.3% in 2008-09.