44. The consumer is in all cases a visitor.
45. As noted in Chapter 1, three criteria must be met for a traveller to be defined as a visitor:
(a) the trip should be to a place other than that of the person's usual environment,
(b) the stay in the place visited should not last more than 12 consecutive months, and
(c) the main purpose of the visit should be other than the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited.
46. Criterion (a) above, introduces the concept of usual environment. There is no international standard definition of this concept, due to the difficulty of arriving at a definition that would be appropriate for all countries. The UN/WTO standards suggest that two criteria be adopted by individual countries. They recommend that all travel falling within either or both of the following criteria be regarded as being within the usual environment and should therefore be excluded:
(a) travel between the home and usual place of work, or usual place of education, and
(b) travel within a set maximum distance of the usual place of residence (this distance is set as considered appropriate in each country).
47. In Australia, locations up to 40 kilometres from home for overnight trips and up to 50 kilometres from home (round trip) for day trips are included in a visitor's usual environment in the National Visitor Survey (NVS) and other surveys. While the appropriateness of these distances may be debated, it would be difficult to arrive at different distance measurements which would be more acceptable. On the grounds of accepted usage and continuity of time series, it is suggested that these cut-offs be retained. Consequently, persons travelling between home and place of work/education, or travelling a distance of less than 40 kilometres for overnight trips or 50 kilometres for day trips, should not be classified as visitors.
48. Criterion (b) in paragraph 45 introduces a time restriction on the type of traveller considered to be a visitor. If a person stays, or intends to stay, at the place travelled to for longer than 12 months then s/he is considered to be a resident of, rather than a visitor to, that place. This criterion takes a destination, rather than an origin perspective. It is the length of time a traveller spends at a destination that qualifies him/her as a visitor, rather than the length of time that person is away from his/her place of residence. A traveller must stay in an area for less than one year to qualify as a visitor to that area, but s/he may be away from his/her place of residence for more than a year visiting a number of destinations.
49. In paragraph 45 criterion (c), the term 'remuneration' refers to payments which cover the reward for labour (i.e. wage and salary payments, including payment in kind). It excludes travel allowances or small participation fees. This criterion excludes from the concept of tourism such travellers as seasonal or temporary workers and lecturers, performing artists and consultants, who are remunerated from within the place visited. It would not exclude, business travellers, transport vehicle crews and students.
50. By convention there are certain other categories of traveller not considered to be 'visitors'. These are:
(a) refugees
(b) nomads and other persons of no fixed residence
(c) prisoners
(d) persons on military duty
(e) persons in transit who do not formally enter the country
(f) persons accompanying or escorting these groups.
51. While statistics on visitors to local tourist attractions are often useful indicators of changes in the level of visitor activity, these should not be used as a measure of tourism activity in the area. Such statistics include visits by local residents. Tourism is defined in terms of the activity of visitors and should be measured in terms of their activity. A further problem in using tourist attraction activity statistics as a measure of tourism within an area is the question of which such attractions would be included. Would visits to some restaurants, cinemas, clubs, pubs, and other facilities frequented by tourists be included? This reflects the difficulty of measuring tourism from the supply side and emphasises the need for demand side statistics to provide accurate measurement.
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