The Australian inbound tourism market is diverse and the market segments vary in their contribution to the economy.
Visitor expenditure is not always an ideal measure of visitor economic value, as economic worth is better understood by indicators of economic contribution, such as gross value added and employment generation. Tourism GVA "measures the value of gross output at basic prices by all industries which supply tourism products, less the value of the inputs used in producing these tourism products" (ABS, 2004 p. 49). More simply, it assesses gross revenue generated by tourism activity, less the cost of producing the commodity on which the money was spent.
Segments which make a high economic contribution per visitor night do not necessarily make an equally important economic contribution per visitor. High economic contribution per visitor is usually a result of a longer length of stay. On the other hand, a high economic contribution per visitor night is associated with short stay visitors such as the Japanese and business visitors.
Among the source markets, the USA and Indonesia have a high economic contribution per visitor, while the USA and Japan have a high economic contribution per night. By purpose of visit, those visitors travelling for education contribute the most in terms of GVA per visitor, with business travellers contributing the highest per night.
Among visitors of different age cohorts, younger visitors aged 15-24 contribute the most on a per visitor basis. On a per night basis, the more mature age group, 45-54 performed the best. Males make a slightly higher economic contribution than females on both a per visitor and per night basis. Non-package visitors made a higher economic contribution per visitor compared to package visitors while visitors on package tours contribute more on a per night basis than non-package visitors.
On average the mature (35+ years) holiday market performs better than all other inbound holiday market segments (both per visitor and per night). This is contrary to the whole inbound visitor market where the youngest age group contributed the most on a per visitor basis. The key market segments which make a higher contribution in terms of GVA on a per night and per visitor basis, include visitors:
- Aged 25+ years from the USA
- Age 35+ years from Canada
- Aged 35+ years from Germany
- Aged 35+ years from Hong Kong
- Aged 35+ years from United Kingdom
- Aged 15-24 years from Hong Kong
TRA's Economic Contribution of Inbound Market Segments report, commissioned by the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources (DITR), assesses the economic contribution made by the various inbound market segments in detail and ranks them in order of their economic contribution.
References: Australian Bureau of Statistics (2004). Australian National Accounts Tourism Satellite Account 2002/03. Catalogue No. 5249.0. |
