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REVISIONS IN THIS ISSUE

This issue includes revisions to a range of tourism aggregates over the length of the time series (back to 1998-99 in most instances). As a general rule, in non-benchmark years (such as this release), the TSA is only revised back to the years subsequent to the latest benchmark. However, due to the extent and significance of the revisions to a number of key TSA sources, revisions back to and including 1998-99 are incorporated into this issue. These revisions include:

• Historical revisions to National Accounts source data used in the compilation of tourism demand. Further information on these revisions can be found at Information Paper: Changes to the 2016-17 release of the Australian System of National Accounts.

• Estimates of international tourism consumption (Tables 6 , 7 and 13), average tourism consumption (Table 8) and tourism consumption by Australian residents on outbound trips (Table 12) have been revised as a consequence of a range of historical revisions to International Trade in Goods and Services, Australia (cat. no. 5368.0). The revisions are a result of improvements to the model used to estimate trade in travel services. Estimates of the expenditure of all travellers (resident and non-resident, including students) will be now sourced from the International and National Visitors Surveys (IVS/NVS) conducted by Tourism Research Australia (TRA). Other changes to the trade in services data includes reinstating the commission on travel and transport services, paid by travellers and revising the treatment of the expenditure of young persons (under 15 years of age) in the International Visitor Survey (IVS). In addition to the above, International Trade in Services education data has been revised to account for a methodology and source data change. This revision has resulted in a reallocation between reference periods in the TSA. Further information can be found at International Trade: Supplementary Information, Financial Year, 2016-17.

• Estimates of average tourism consumption per trip and the number of international trips have been revised back to 2007-08 due to changes to the methodology and processing systems used to estimate Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia (cat. no 3401.0). The changes are a result of the discontinuation of the Outgoing Passenger Card (OPC) from 1 July 2017. The TSA has used the revised historical time series to be internally consistent with other published ABS data. Further information can be found at Review of Overseas Arrivals and Departure Statistics.

• Estimates of domestic tourism consumption has been revised following adjustments to TRA's National Visitor Survey (NVS) data. This data has been revised back to 2014 to account for the introduction of mobile sampling and the change in mobile phone weighting strategy. From January 2014, TRA modified their sample design to include mobile phones. This sample design change enabled the introduction of dual-frame sampling, which allowed the sampling of both mobile phone and landline phone respondents. In addition, in December 2015, TRA revised their sample dataset weights to account for changes in phone ownership by telecommunication providers. Further information can be found at National Visitor Survey Methodology.

• Estimates of tourism employment have been revised as a result of improved seasonal analysis factor used in all periods to reduce the variability in the tourism industry estimates. Tourism employment and hours worked estimates are based on the Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, Quarterly (cat. no. 6291.0.55.003), and are adjusted to include defence force personnel.