ANALYSIS OF RESULTS


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.

In 2006-07 tourism consumption increased 7.6% to $84,975m. Tourism consumption is the total value of goods and services consumed by visitors. It is measured in purchasers prices (the price paid by the tourism consumer). The receipts of Australian producers of tourism goods and services exclude product taxes like the GST and include subsidies received (collectively known as net taxes). In 2006-07 tourism net taxes were $6,629m, an increase of 7.1% over 2005-06.

Tourism supply at basic prices (excluding net taxes) grew 7.6% to $78,346m in 2006-07. Imported goods and services purchased by visitors do not represent domestic production by Australian tourism industries and in 2006-07 these grew 8.2% to $6,768m. Domestic tourism output increased 7.6% to $71,579m over the same period.

When producing tourism goods and services Australian businesses use goods and services produced by other businesses. These are known as intermediate inputs. Intermediate inputs increased 7.3% to $39,273m in 2006-07.

Tourism gross value added (tourism output minus tourism intermediate inputs) increased 7.9% to $32,306m in 2006-07, which is the highest growth rate since 1998-99 and a similar rate of growth to the economy as a whole. While tourism gross value added is comparable conceptually to that of other industries and the total economy, the TSA is a re-organisation of the economic activity of visitors and production by tourism industries, which are classified to ANZSIC industries in the core national accounts.

Tourism GDP is calculated by adding tourism net taxes on products to tourism gross value added. Tourism GDP was $38,935m in 2006-07, an increase of 7.8% on 2005-06.

All the aggregates above are presented in current price terms, so they 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 2006-07 the tourism share of GDP was 3.7%, unchanged from the previous year, reflecting a similar rate of growth in total economy GDP.


COMPONENTS OF TOURISM INDUSTRY GROSS VALUE ADDED

Air and water transport, Accommodation, Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food outlets and Other retail trade were the most important tourism industries, together accounting for over 48.5% of tourism gross value added in 2006-07.

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 and 2003-04 established the relationships between tourism consumption (demand) and tourism industry output (supply). The results from the 2003-04 benchmark compared to the 2000-01 benchmark showed a reduced contribution by tourism to industry gross value added for most tourism industries. For example, the tourism contribution to industry gross value added for the Air and water transport industry fell from 70.8% in 2000-01 to 61.3% in 2003-04. This was largely due to stronger growth in the Air and water transport industry value added (27.6% to $5,924m) than the tourism component (10.5% to $3,632m) of this industry. The only industry where tourism had an increased share was Education.

While tourism output and tourism gross value added increased for most industries, there was a downward trend in the Other manufacturing industry, largely due to an increase in consumption of imported goods by visitors.


COMPONENTS OF TOURISM CONSUMPTION

Domestic tourism consumption increased 6.8% to $62,626m in 2006-07. Over the year tourism consumption by domestic households rose 6.2% to $51,748m, and consumption by business and government rose 9.8% to $10,878m.

The products purchased by visitors which contributed most to the increase in domestic tourism consumption between 2005-06 and 2006-07 were: fuel (an increase of 12.7%) and accommodation (an increase of 9.9%).

SHARE OF TOURISM CONSUMPTION, Selected tourism products - By type of visitor - 2006-07
	Households	Business/government	International	All visitors
	%	%	%	%
Long distance passenger transportation	8.7	32.8	24.7	16.0
Shopping (including gifts & souvenirs	18.4	0.1	11.2	14.2
Takeaway & restaurant meals	17.2	14.3	8.7	14.6
Accommodation services	8.2	16.9	14.0	10.8
Food products	10.1	2.6	7.4	8.4
Fuel (petrol, diesel)	8.3	14.6	1.6	7.4
Taxi fares	0.4	3.7	1.0	1.0
All other tourism products	28.7	15.0	31.4	27.6
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

Domestic visitors contributed 73.7% to total tourism consumption in 2006-07, while international visitors contributed 26.3%. While the growth in international visitor consumption was stronger than domestic visitor consumption, these proportions were little changed from previous years.

International tourism increased 9.8% to $22,350m in 2006-07. Long distance passenger transportation was the dominant tourism product consumed by international visitors. While its consumption grew by 4.2% over the period, stronger growth occurred in the consumption of accommodation services (a 17.1% increase) and education (a 15.8% increase).


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. In 2006-07 tourism exports grew faster than tourism imports, generating a surplus in the tourism balance of trade (tourism exports less tourism imports).

TOURISM EMPLOYED PERSONS

The tourism industry employed 482,800 persons in 2006-07, an increase of 1.1% on 2005-06. The industries which recorded an increase in tourism related employed persons were: Travel agency and tour operator services; Road transport and motor vehicle hiring; Air and water transport; Cafes and restaurants; Clubs, pubs, taverns and bars; Libraries, museums and arts; and Other entertainment services. The tourism share of total employed persons fell from 4.8% to 4.7%, reflecting slower growth than in total employed persons which increased 2.6% over the year.


VISITOR NUMBERS

Increased tourism consumption in 2006-07 was the result of both an increase in the number of visitors and an increase in per visitor consumption expenditure. The number of domestic trips and international trips were 4.3% and 2.9% higher, respectively. Average domestic visitor consumption and international visitor consumption increased by 2.3% and 6.8% respectively.

The most popular destinations for Australians travelling overseas were New Zealand, United States of America and United Kingdom. International visitors to Australia were most often from New Zealand, United Kingdom and Japan.