12.7 Measuring the Economic Value of Tourism
Tourism in Australia is big business. The industry makes significant
contributions, both direct and indirect to the economy, creating
jobs and providing a significant source of export dollars to the
country. While the considerable economic benefits that tourism provides
to the economy are beyond question, the industry continues to face
the challenge of finding an accurate measure of its economic significance,
particularly at the State level. Tourism Victoria has taken up that
challenge.
Tourism is an activity that takes place in a number of industry
sectors, most notably accommodation, cafes and restaurants; retail
trade; transport; and personal services. It is an industry that
can provide economic benefits to a broad range of industries, however
the far reaching nature of the industry is also one of the key reasons
that it cannot be measured as easily as other industries.
Previous results released by Tourism Victoria have been based on
the work of the Bureau of Tourism Research (BTR), or derived from
the Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) Tourism Satellite Accounts
(TSA). The Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA) provided the first comprehensive
statistical analysis of the direct contribution of tourism to the
Australian economy, supplying levels of accuracy not otherwise available
through the BTR. While both these sources have been a good indication
of the economic value of tourism in Australia, neither focused specifically
on the value of tourism to Victoria.
Tourism Victoria recognised the opportunity to enhance the robustness
of the economic impact data for Victoria and took action. As such,
Access Economics were commissioned to report on the economic contribution
of tourism to the Victorian economy, using a TSA approach as adopted
by the ABS. The Access Economics report contains the first near-comprehensive
estimates of value added to the Victorian economy by tourism. The
report uses 1997-98 figures, as these were the only results available
to Access Economics at the time.
Tourism Victoria has since applied the percentages from the Access
Economics to more recent State employment and Gross State Product
(GSP) figures. The following table highlights the results. While
the figures are more robust, Access Economics does however acknowledge
that it is not possible to capture all of the State level value
added, and as a result, the figures somewhat undervalue the economic
impacts of tourism to Victoria.
The Economic Value of Tourism
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Source: The Economic Contribution of Tourism to the State of
Victoria, December 2001, Access Economics Pty Ltd
It is important to note that due to significant differences in
approach and methodology, the studies undertaken by BTR cannot
be directly comparable with the Tourism Satellite Accounts (ABS),
nor with the Victorian estimates by Access Economics. The Access
Economics study does however, provide Victoria with a benchmark
of robust economic data at the State level. This data will be
used to track, and evaluate the economic value of tourism to Victoria
in the future.
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