Contents of this page
National Surveys
2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009
About national surveys
National surveys are reports which detail quarterly results from the International Visitor Survey (IVS) and National Visitor Survey (NVS).
The IVS samples 40 000 short-term international visitors (aged 15 years and over) annually. Face-to-face interviews are held with departing visitors at the major international airports around Australia, and include questions on: country of residence, expenditure, demographics, purpose of visit, transport, accommodation, activities, repeat visitation, group tours, travel party, information sources, and places visited. Commonwealth, state and territory governments jointly fund the IVS, with the backing of the Australian Standing Committee on Tourism (ASCOT).
The NVS holds 120 000 interviews annually with Australian residents aged 15 years and over. Residents are interviewed in their homes using random digit dialling and a 'Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing' system. Questions cover: destination, travel party, information sources, purpose of travel, transport, accommodation, travel package, activities, expenditure, and demographics. The NVS shares the same funding arrangement as the IVS.
Data from these surveys are used in:
- forecasts developed by the Tourism Forecasting Committee (TFC)
- modelling for Regional Expenditure (REX)
- Total Inbound Economic Value (TIEV)
- Total Domestic Economic Value (TDEV)
- Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA) as produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Destination Visitor Surveys (DVS)
About Destination Visitor Surveys
The Destination Visitor Surveys (DVS) program is a Commonwealth Government funded program that began in 2004–05. The program provides destinations with high quality tourism research at the local or regional level to support their information needs and business decision-making. Projects are determined in collaboration with state tourism organisations.
The underpinning objectives of the program are to provide evidence-based research that informs and links to national tourism priorities, including those of the National Long-Term Tourism Strategy (NLTTS) working groups. Information about the NLTTS is available on the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism website.
The research conducted within the DVS program is split into two streams:
Visitor Profile and Satisfaction program (VPS)
ACT | NSW | NT | Qld | SA | Tas | Vic | WA
The Visitor Profile and Satisfaction (VPS) program profiles visitors to individual regional tourism destinations and reports on their satisfaction with their visit. This information is compiled into the VPS benchmark database, enabling destinations to be benchmarked against others across a number of key indicators.
Strategic Regional Research program (SRR)
ACT | NSW | NT | Qld | SA | Tas | Vic | WA
Projects in the SRR program focus on broader strategic issues that are affecting regional destinations.
Economic and industry analysis
2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009
About economic and industry analysis
Economic and industry analysis reports cover issues such as the value of tourism to the Australian Economy (both directly and indirectly) and industry performance, current market dynamics and emerging trends. TRA produces an annual State of the Industry report, which analyses the current performance of the Australian tourism industry, the challenges ahead, and how the industry needs to respond.
TRA's economic research program focuses on delivering measures of the structure and performance of the Australian tourism industry along with forecasts of national and state level metrics. Our research and data analysis brings together key findings from our own surveys with supply and demand intelligence from a broad range of sources to support policy making, marketing and industry development.
Tourism Research Australia has recently collaborated with the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics on the inaugural Resources, Energy and Tourism China Review. The Review provides an overview of China's economic re-emergence and its economic relations with Australia. The publication includes a review of China's demand for tourism and prospects for the future.
Forecasts
2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009
About tourism forecasts
Tourism forecasting plays an important role in providing awareness and support for future development of the Australian tourism industry.
The Tourism Forecasting Committee (TFC) is an independent body charged with providing present and potential tourism investors, industry and governments with consensus forecasts across the international, domestic and outbound tourism sectors. TRA provides the resources for the TFC and supports its sub-committee, the Tourism Forecasting Technical Committee.
TRA publishes the Tourism Forecasting Committee's (TFC) Forecast publication twice a year, which contains international, domestic and outbound forecasts for the next 10 years.
Regional Data
2012 | 2011
About regional data
Regional data reports are published annually and provide reliable, independent visitor information to support the development of regional tourism and growth of regional economies.
Regional tourism profiles provide comprehensive tourism demand and supply data for Australia's tourism regions and states/territories. Data sources include both the IVS and NVS, modelled regional expenditure estimates, summaries of tourist accommodation establishments, and data from TRA's reports The economic importance of tourism to Australia's regions, The economic contribution of tourism to the Australian economy, Tourism Businesses in Australia and Regional tourism employment in Australia.
Regional expenditure uses a model-based approach to allocate international and domestic visitor expenditure to Australian tourism regions. Although the IVS and NVS collect information on visitor expenditure, it is only collected for the visitor's entire trip—not for individual destinations they stop at. The Regional Expenditure model allocates visitor expenditure to specific tourism regions to determine the impact of visitor activity on a particular region.
Snapshots and fact sheets
2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009
About snapshots and fact sheets
Tourism Research Australia (TRA) produces market sector snapshots and fact sheets that profile consumers who undertake particular experiences while travelling in Australia, such as:
- Business events
- Cultural and heritage
- Food and wine
- Indigenous
- Nature-based
Other snapshots and fact sheets produced include:
- The impact of the mining boom on tourism
- China—Inbound and outbound travel
- Backpacker accommodation in Australia
- Bed and breakfast in Australia
- Caravan or camping in Australia
- Internet use in trip planning and booking
- Mature age visitors in Australia
About the Small-Scale Accommodation Survey
2013
The Small-Scale Accommodation Survey (SSAS) is a free web-based tool that provides operators of hotels, motels and serviced apartments (with less than 15 rooms), visitor hostels and caravan parks the opportunity to track and benchmark their own monthly performance against others in their region and state in a strictly confidential environment.
The SSAS is an initiative of Australian and state and territory governments with the support of industry associations. Through Tourism 2020, TRA is working with STR Global Limited (STR) to collect, collate and display the performance of small-scale accommodation properties throughout Australia.
The Sector Report is published monthly at the tourism region, mega region, state/territory and national levels, and includes time series data tracking industry trends in occupancy, Average Daily Rate (ADR), and Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR).
More information
For more information about any of these publications, contact TRA at tourism.research@ret.gov.au.