8602.0 - Tourism Newsletter, Mar 2008  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 16/04/2008   
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Tourism Statistics | news

WELCOME

Welcome to the second ABS tourism statistics newsletter. Hopefully this edition will continue to provide information on recent tourism industry related issues and updates, describe ABS work related to tourism statistics, advise on recent ABS publications and inform users about forthcoming ABS publications.
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Included in this issue is a brief description of the original, seasonally adjusted and trend versions of the overseas arrivals series and a discussion around the appropriate use of each of these versions. The ABS preference is for the trend series for most purposes, and the article discusses the reasons for this preference.

The Australian National Accounts - Tourism Satellite Account 2006-07 (ABS cat no. 5249.0) is expected to be published on April 17 this year. The ABS is aware that the revisions in last year's report caused difficulties for clients and stakeholders of tourism statistics. The ABS is required to annually revise and update figures in the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), however we hope, through publishing this newsletter twice a year, to better inform users about changes to our tourism statistics, and where possible, provide plenty of notice of future revisions. This newsletter includes a short issues paper about TSA, designed to answer some of the more common questions posed by users. We will continue to include an appendix summarising the TSA publication and probable revision schedule in future issues of this newsletter.

Many of you will be aware that recent budget issues have impacted on our work program at the ABS and it is with regret that we advise that the planned Pubs Taverns and Bars survey, the Clubs survey and the Libraries and Archives survey for the 2008 -2009 year will not be going ahead. We are working with industry bodies to try to identify ways in which we may be able to conduct research into these areas to try to alleviate the data gap these cancellations will cause. In moving forward from these cuts, we will be conducting a full review of our industry statistics program over the next 6 months or so, and will be seeking input from many of you regarding the importance of the various statistical outputs to your areas of interest.

We hope this newsletter will provide more insight into the work of the ABS and provide a way for clients and stakeholders to connect with work of the ABS. As such, we would appreciate any feedback you would like to provide regarding the usefulness of the information presented.

Melanie Taylor
Director
Goods and Services Industries National Statistics Centre