❓ A WA parliamentary question addresses discrepancies between Tourism WA visitor data and the experiences of local tourism operators, questioning data collection methods, validity, and reporting practices. The Minister responds with explanations regarding data sources, methodology changes, and factors influencing visitation trends.
AnsweredQoN 5411Legislative Assembly
Asked
27 August 2019
Member
Portfolio
Tourism; Racing and Gaming; Small Business; Defence Issues; Citizenship and Multicultural Interests
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to visitor data released by Tourism WA which is at odds with grassroots tourism operators, and ask: (a) Can the Minister provide information on how the research is collected to facilitate accurate data and: (i) Is the Minister confident in the validity of that data; (b) Can the Minister advise why transition in visitor research sampling as described on the Tourism WA website was done, and why it might bring caution to data comparisons; (c) Can the minister explain why Tourism WA visitation data would seem at odds with the on ground experiences of tourism operators in the South-West; (d) Can the Minister explain why international visitation and visitor spend is down, as described by Tourism Research Australia’s statistics on the Tourism WA website.; and (e) Can the Minister explain why his department combined domestic and international visitation data to create a better picture than reporting on them separately?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
15 October 2019
Responded by
Minister for Tourism; Racing and Gaming; Small Business; Defence Issues; Citizenship and Multicultural Interests
Response time
12 days
Tourism Western Australia advises:
(a) The estimated number of visitors travelling to and within Western Australia (WA) is sourced from Tourism Research Australia’s (TRA) International and National Visitor Surveys (IVS and NVS).
The IVS methodology involves sampling 40,000 departing short-term international visitors to Australia, aged 15 years and over, each year via face-to-face interviews in the departure lounges of eight major international airports, including Perth Airport. Since 1 January 2005, 40,000 international visitors have been interviewed annually; between 2001 and 2004 approximately 20,000 international visitors were interviewed annually. The IVS contains around 100 questions and, since 2004, has been surveying international visitors in four languages – English, Japanese, Mandarin and Korean.
The NVS methodology involves sampling 120,000 Australian residents aged 15 years and over each year through a Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews system using random digit dialling to mobile phone numbers. The NVS commenced in 1998 and the annual sample prior to 2005 was 80,000 Australian residents. The NVS survey contains over 70 questions and runs continuously with interviews taking place on each weekday and on weekends.
(i) I am as confident in the validity of the data as any other State and Territory Minister for Tourism and those who have gone before me. The IVS and NVS are the authoritative sources of tourism statistics in Australia and are used by all State Tourism Organisations. As with all surveys, the results are subject to sampling variability. The latest IVS and NVS results for WA have a margin of error of 3.8% for intrastate, 8.3% for interstate, and 3.4% for international.
(b) Between 2014 and 2018, NVS interviews were evenly split between household landline (50 per cent) and mobile phone numbers (50 per cent). TRA has transitioned NVS sampling to 100 per cent mobile phone interviewing and discontinued landline sampling from 2019 onwards. This change has been made to improve the accuracy of national, state and territory estimates. However, the transition from the 50 per cent mobile phone / 50 per cent landline split will result in an unavoidable break in series between 2018 and 2019 NVS data. A clearer picture around the extent of this break is likely once data for all quarters in 2019 has been processed.
(c) Some businesses in the region will be exceeding the visitation levels reflected in the data, while others will be attracting fewer visitors. The NVS and IVS statistics include all visitors to the region, as well as those staying in private accommodation, such as at the home of a friend or relative.
(d) The decline in international visitation (-1.2 per cent to 949,000) and visitor spend (-1.7 per cent to $2.164 billion) was predominantly driven by a drop in visitors and nights from the visiting friends and relatives (VFR) sector, as well as those visiting for business and ‘other’ purposes, which is mostly employment. Meanwhile, the holiday sector, which is influenced by the McGowan Government’s Two-Year Action Plan and Tourism WA’s marketing and event attraction activities saw strong growth, with visitation up 9.3 per cent to a record 493,100 visitors, and spend up 14.8 per cent to $801 million.
(e) Inbound visitation is important for bringing new money into WA. Combining interstate and international visitation gives an overall picture of inbound visitation and spend. Individual reports on the NVS and IVS are published on the Tourism WA website.
(a) The estimated number of visitors travelling to and within Western Australia (WA) is sourced from Tourism Research Australia’s (TRA) International and National Visitor Surveys (IVS and NVS).
The IVS methodology involves sampling 40,000 departing short-term international visitors to Australia, aged 15 years and over, each year via face-to-face interviews in the departure lounges of eight major international airports, including Perth Airport. Since 1 January 2005, 40,000 international visitors have been interviewed annually; between 2001 and 2004 approximately 20,000 international visitors were interviewed annually. The IVS contains around 100 questions and, since 2004, has been surveying international visitors in four languages – English, Japanese, Mandarin and Korean.
The NVS methodology involves sampling 120,000 Australian residents aged 15 years and over each year through a Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews system using random digit dialling to mobile phone numbers. The NVS commenced in 1998 and the annual sample prior to 2005 was 80,000 Australian residents. The NVS survey contains over 70 questions and runs continuously with interviews taking place on each weekday and on weekends.
(i) I am as confident in the validity of the data as any other State and Territory Minister for Tourism and those who have gone before me. The IVS and NVS are the authoritative sources of tourism statistics in Australia and are used by all State Tourism Organisations. As with all surveys, the results are subject to sampling variability. The latest IVS and NVS results for WA have a margin of error of 3.8% for intrastate, 8.3% for interstate, and 3.4% for international.
(b) Between 2014 and 2018, NVS interviews were evenly split between household landline (50 per cent) and mobile phone numbers (50 per cent). TRA has transitioned NVS sampling to 100 per cent mobile phone interviewing and discontinued landline sampling from 2019 onwards. This change has been made to improve the accuracy of national, state and territory estimates. However, the transition from the 50 per cent mobile phone / 50 per cent landline split will result in an unavoidable break in series between 2018 and 2019 NVS data. A clearer picture around the extent of this break is likely once data for all quarters in 2019 has been processed.
(c) Some businesses in the region will be exceeding the visitation levels reflected in the data, while others will be attracting fewer visitors. The NVS and IVS statistics include all visitors to the region, as well as those staying in private accommodation, such as at the home of a friend or relative.
(d) The decline in international visitation (-1.2 per cent to 949,000) and visitor spend (-1.7 per cent to $2.164 billion) was predominantly driven by a drop in visitors and nights from the visiting friends and relatives (VFR) sector, as well as those visiting for business and ‘other’ purposes, which is mostly employment. Meanwhile, the holiday sector, which is influenced by the McGowan Government’s Two-Year Action Plan and Tourism WA’s marketing and event attraction activities saw strong growth, with visitation up 9.3 per cent to a record 493,100 visitors, and spend up 14.8 per cent to $801 million.
(e) Inbound visitation is important for bringing new money into WA. Combining interstate and international visitation gives an overall picture of inbound visitation and spend. Individual reports on the NVS and IVS are published on the Tourism WA website.
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