New research released today reveals that in 2007-08 tourism contributed $15.8 billion to Victoria’s economy, representing 5.9% of the state’s total Gross State Product (GSP). The research from Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre (STCRC) also provides data on tourism’s direct and indirect contribution to employment. Tourism generated 185,000 jobs in the state representing 7% of Victoria’s total employment.
The research highlights which tourism-specific and tourism-related industry sectors contribute most to the state’s economy. In 2007-08, Accommodation, cafes and restaurants dominated at almost $1.8 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA). Retail trade had the largest share of direct tourism employment with just fewer than 25,500 jobs which equates to 20% of all tourism related retail jobs in Australia.
In measuring tourism’s contribution to the economy, researchers not only include leisure activities but also travel to a destination for reasons other than holidays including for business, visiting friends and relatives, sport and education. In 2007-08, 9,500 education jobs were attributed to tourism representing 26% of all such jobs in Australia. Accommodation provided a further 13,300 jobs with employment in the café and restaurant sector (10,800 jobs) accounting for more than 20% of the national share of tourism jobs in that sector.
The Tourism Satellite Accounts 2007-08 Summary Spreadsheets are developed by STCRC to help inform policy and planning initiatives for the three tiers of government and provide data for tourism industry representative bodies and tourism operators to support decisions in the areas of industry investment, advocacy, marketing, education and training.
STCRC’s Chief Executive Officer, Ian Kean says governments at all levels recognise that the benefits from tourism flow not just as revenue to industry and government, but to entire communities. “The challenge in the past in measuring the true contribution of tourism to states and territories is that it is not a traditional ‘industry’ within the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification,” Mr Kean said.
“The products and services visitors enjoy are derived from a wide range of industries that make up the ANZSIC industries, for example if a visitor takes a bus trip, that journey is measured as contributing to the transport industry. Prior to STCRC’s development of tourism satellite accounts (TSA), tourism’s contribution to state and territory economies remained largely invisible.”
The 2007-08 tourism satellite accounts build on STCRC’s previous TSA reports for the years 2003-04 and 2006-07.
Victoria Tourism Industry Council Chairman, Jeremy Johnson says this research demonstrates and confirms the very significant contribution of tourism to Victoria’s economy, including business and events tourism. “Victoria’s tourism industry has now matured, driven by a highly successful and consistent marketing strategy implemented over the past fifteen years cooperatively by governments and industry,” Mr Johnson said.
"To maintain and grow this contribution will require increased investment by government and the industry.”
The Tourism Satellite Accounts 2007-08 Summary Spreadsheets 2007-08 is available for free download at www.crctourism.com.au/bookshop. Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre has also developed a ‘plain language’ summary of the full spreadsheets which can also be downloaded from the online bookshop or by clicking here.
More statistics for tourism in Victorian 2007-08:
STCRC’s TSA also measure interstate trade which is the estimated component of goods and services produced in one state or territory and imported for tourism consumption in another state or territory. Victoria’s interstate trade in ‘Air and water transport’ contributes $542m to the state’s Gross Value Added (17% of national share of ‘Air and water transport interstate trade’)
Definitions:
Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA)
A TSA measures the size or economic contribution of tourism, including the production of goods and services required to meet demand by visitors (output), and the additional value (value added) created in the process of producing these goods and services including employment. A TSA also provides information about the detailed composition of the tourism industry, for example, by indicating how much value added is produced in individual components such as accommodation or transport.
Direct Economic Contributions
Direct contributions are generated where there is a direct physical or economic relationship between the visitor and the producer of the goods and services, such as hotels and airlines, or when a visitor eats at a restaurant or catches a taxi.
Indirect Economic Contributions
Indirect economic contributions are the flow-on effects to industries that do not have direct contact with the visitor but produce goods or services for visitor consumption. For example, a visitor takes a fully catered guided day tour, the meals provided are supplied by a catering company, the catering company purchases the raw ingredients from a food distribution company, that business sources its vegetables from a farm. This represents a series of indirect processes that link tourism with other economic sectors.
Gross Value Added (GVA)
Tourism’s GVA represents the total value of Australian produced goods and services consumed by all visitors after deducting the cost of goods and services used in the process of production.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Gross State Product (GSP)
Tourism’s GDP and GSP represent tourism’s GVA plus taxes paid less government subsidies received. GDP is the economic measurement used for the national economy, with GSP the measure for states and territories. Tourism’s GDP and GSP are frequently used for comparing the contribution of tourism to the economy with that of other industries, in particular with industries identified in the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC).
Download estimates of total (direct plus indirect) contribution of tourism by state and territory 2007–08: GVA/GSP
Download estimates of total (direct plus indirect) employment of tourism by state and territory, 2007–08
For further information or to arrange interviews please contact:
Samantha Kume
Communications Executive
Direct Line +61 (0)7 5552 8129
Mobile 0405 480 994
Email: samantha.kume@crctourism.com.au