Feature article

Tourism issues and initiatives

Highlights of the 2005 Tourism Futures conference

The fourth national conference on tourism futures, themed ‘Investing for Growth' was held on the Gold Coast from 2 to 5 October 2005 and attended by ACNielsen's Kate Bramich, Sophie Parker and Amanda Hawes. The conference had a record attendance of over 375 delegates, comprising CEOs, tourism operators, industry representatives, policy makers, academics and researchers.

The conference highlighted how both private and public sectors can work together in planning for tourism development and the future sustainability of the industry. At present, the tourism industry is worth $73 billion and experiencing strong growth. The Australian Government is investing $453 million over the next three years to better position Australia in the global market and to encourage more Australians to holiday at home. In addition, forecasted growth has been predicted at 9.3 million international visitors and 323 million domestic tourists in 2014.  

The challenges posed by projected growth in inbound tourism from both emerging markets such as China and India as well as from existing established markets require considerable investment by industry into infrastructure, products and marketing. This conference highlighted how both private and public sectors can work together in planning for tourism development and the future sustainability of the industry.

One of the key outcomes of the two day conference was the identification of six key issues and challenges faced by the tourism sector. These included:

1. Partnerships between Government, industry and private sector
2. Sustainability of tourism (social, environmental and economic)
3. Timely, accurate and relevant research
4. Marketing Australia domestically
5. Marketing Australia internationally
6. Level of support from Government
   

ACT Visitor Satisfaction survey

Like other sectors, market research for Australia's tourism industry requires research designs which are tailored to specific objectives and circumstances. Consider, for example, the demand for research about the visitors to individual tourist destinations. Surveying the general population is often too costly, as the number of people who have visited a specific area is too small, visitors can have trouble recalling their trip and many have travelled from distant locations.  

Conversely, surveying people while visiting destinations has its own problems. Visitors don't want to spend too long talking to an interviewer; and many concepts (such as overall satisfaction with their trip) are best collected at its completion.  

In response to this challenge, Tourism Research Australia has been developing a surveying methodology which best meets both research objectives and visitors' needs. ACNielsen has contributed to the research design which draws on multiple survey methodologies including:

•  Brief face to face screening and recruitment interviews at visitor destinations (eg tourist attractions), often using advanced PDA technology; and

•  Offering the option to recruited respondents of using either online or mail modes for the main survey questionnaire, depending on each respondent's preference.

The self-completion nature of the main survey questionnaire allows respondents to complete the survey at their leisure. This has also permitted the design of a longer questionnaire essential for collecting sufficient information to fully support specific research objectives, which would have been impractical for a face to face interview.

This and other methodology is now being successfully applied to a range of different destination specific market research projects. ACNielsen will continue to work towards further refinements and innovations with Tourism Research Australia.

For more information, contact Bill Allen on bill.allen@acnielsen.com.au.

Unused leave

Domestic tourism is the mainstay of the Australian tourist industry, however, Australians seem to be failing to take all their holidays.

Australian employers are finding it increasingly difficult to manage the amount of accrued employee leave. Some organisations have introduced compulsory leave schemes, forcing employees to take leave owing in an effort to reduce the company's financial liability.

Last year, ACNielsen asked over 1,000 Australians to indicate their current and ongoing annual holiday leave entitlements, together with their intention to take leave in the year ahead.

The survey found that Australians received an average of 21 days' leave per year. Over 67 million days' accrued holiday leave has been clocked up for full time workers aged 18 or over in major capital cities.

On average, the survey found that people intended to take 20 days' leave in 2005. However, these leave intentions were still below entitlements, meaning accrued leave was likely to increase in the coming year.

While this accrued leave presents a challenge to employers, the tourism industry sees the increase in holiday leave owing to employees as an opportunity to encourage people to take more holidays and boost tourism levels.

“The implications of high levels of accrued leave are widespread,” says Paul Vittles, Director, Public Enterprise, ACNielsen Australia. “For Australian companies, there is a huge liability associated with having excessive employee leave accruals. For the Australian tourism sector, the amount of holidays Australians are taking impacts directly on the industry. And for employees themselves, taking holidays is an important part of a healthy lifestyle – if individuals aren't taking enough time off from work it can affect their health and wellbeing.”

ACNielsen's online panel

A total of 1,027 interviews were conducted with Australian residents between 18 and 20 February 2005. An online methodology was used and the sample was derived from ACNielsen's unique, demographically balanced, online panel of 75,000 Australians which is nationally representative of the Australian online population. The ACNielsen online panel is specifically recruited for research via both online and offline methodologies. To qualify for the survey participants must be over 18 years of age. Results were weighted to the Australian online population (18 years and over), who have accessed the Internet in the past month.

Australians' holiday destination preferences

In addition to identifying annual leave accrual levels, the ACNielsen study also looked at Australians' international (Table 1) and domestic (Table 2) holiday destination preferences. New Zealand was ranked as the top considered international destination by Australians, followed by the USA, the United Kingdom and continental Europe while the Gold Coast was the number one considered domestic destination followed by Melbourne, the Sunshine Coast and Sydney.

Looking at destinations most likely to be visited, New Zealand and the Gold Coast remained the number one international and domestic destinations, with some shifts noted in respondents' next preferences.

When it came to deciding between international versus domestic destinations, holidaying overseas was an intention for many Australians. Family status however can make quite a difference. Seventy one percent of people without children were considering international trips in the next 12 months, whilst this figure falls to 53 percent for those Australians with children.

Table 1: Top ten international destinations

Considered destination	Most likely destination
New Zealand (22%)	New Zealand (11%)
USA (17%)	Continental Europe (9%)
United Kingdom (16%)	United Kingdom (9%)
Continental Europe (16%)	USA (7%)
Pacific Islands (9%)	Pacific Islands (5%)
Thailand (9%)	Indonesia/Bali (4%)
Indonesia/Bali (9%)	Singapore (4%)
Singapore (8%)	Thailand (3%)
Hong Kong (6%)	Malaysia (3%)
Canada (6%)	Hong Kong (2%)

Table 2: Top ten domestic destinations

Considered destination	Most likely destination
Gold Coast (25%)	Gold Coast (13%)
Melbourne (20%)	Sydney (10%)
Sunshine Coast (17%)	Melbourne (9%)
Sydney (17%)	Sunshine Coast (9%)
Brisbane (14%)	Brisbane (7%)
Hobart (11%)	Cairns (6%)
North Coast NSW (11%)	North Coast NSW (5%)
Adelaide (11%)	Margaret River (5%)
Cairns (9%)	Hunter NSW (5%)
Margaret River (9%)	Adelaide (5%)