This presentation talks about how to find free tourism research. We are always amazed at how many of our clients don't look to see what is freely available and public in terms of travel and tourism research. Before you spend the big research bucks, why not do a little desk research to look at what other countries, regions, associations have done? Governments, associations and organisations around the world post their tourism research and studies onto their websites. We all share similar problems at times. So you can save your research budget and put it towards the strategic and tactical planning. Carolyn Childs presented this at the PATA Colloquium in Chengdu last month.

1. Champagne insights for the cost of fresh air
How and where to find free information
A ‘show and tell’ for the PATA Colloquium
Chengdu, 14th September 2013

2. Introducing ourselves: MyTravelResearch.com
• An innovative membership service that bridges the gap between
what destinations are resourced to provide and industry
needs/expectations
• But rather than TELL you what we do…
• ….we thought we would SHOW you what we do
• Caveat: This document was prepared for our Australian
members
• But our perspective is global – we’ve conducted research in
nearly 40 countries around the world

3. Websites with information on tourism in and to
Australia
Tourism Research Australia (1)
• We are really lucky in Australia. We have a marvellously sound statistical
basis on which to do our planning.
• One of these sources is Tourism Research Australia (TRA)
• The main site is http://www.tra.gov.au/
• This will take you to both the just published and recently published
surveys and analyses by the organisation.

4. Websites with information on tourism in and to
Australia
Tourism Research Australia (2)
• This link at the head of the main page will take you to both the just published
and recently published elements of:
– National Visitors Survey (NVS/Travel by Australians)
– International Visitors Survey (IVS)
– Destination Visitors Surveys (DVS). This has two components
• Strategic Regional Research (SRR). Conducted jointly with the states.
Even if the results are not for your state, the topics are designed to
have wider relevance.
• Visitor Profile and Satisfaction Study (VPS). This is an initiative to
assist individual destinations understand their visitor base and
benchmark it against Australian standards. It is worth contacting TRA
to get involved. But if you see similar destinations to yourself they can
also be useful benchmarks
– Occasional reports that draw off these and special reports like those on
exchange rates, the impact of the mining boom and so on

5. Websites with information on tourism in and to Australia
Tourism Research Australia (3)
• But it is also worth scrolling down
the page to
– check out the links to the full
list of publications on the site
– Check out future publications
– Or better still signing up for
releases – so the research
comes to you

6. Websites with information on tourism in and to
Australia
Tourism Australia
• Whilst TRA concentrates on visitor profiling and behaviour, Tourism
Australia provides insights on needs and wants (including drawing on TRA
data). Again this is a fantastic data source that I use a lot
• http://www.tourism.australia.com/markets/market-strategy.aspx
• Or http://www.tourism.australia.com/statistics.aspx
• You can look by market or by segment

7. Websites with information on tourism in and to
Australia
STOs (1)
• All of Australia’s states and territories conduct and use research as well as running
state analysis of TRA work
• Besides your own state, it is well worth checking out other states’ that
– Neighbour yours (may have similar visitors – especially if you are close to
borders)
– Offer similar experiences (again similar visitors). I would recommend thinking
laterally here. For example, both NT and Tasmania attract nature-based
tourism – so if you are based in one check out the other
• Links to all of them are provided on the following page. To avoid you having to
restart this presentation, go to our useful links page

8. Websites with information on tourism in and to
Australia
STOs (2)
• http://www.destinationnsw.com.au/tourism/research-and-reports
• http://www.tourism.vic.gov.au/facts-and-figures/
• http://www.tq.com.au/research/index.cfm
• http://www.tourism.sa.gov.au/publications/default.asp
• http://www.tourism.wa.gov.au/Research_and_Statistics/Pages/Research_and_Stat
istics.aspx
• http://www.tourismnt.com.au/research.aspx
• http://www.tourismtasmania.com.au/research
• http://www.tourism.act.gov.au/research

9. Websites with useful supporting information for
Australia
Government departments
• Although TRA, TA and the States are the primary sources of information
other government departments produce useful statistics
• Many are useful background for business cases or tourism planning
• The Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local
Govenment (BTRE) has useful information on issues like air capacity and a
wealth of information on Australia’s regions. For example, see
– http://www.btre.gov.au/Info.aspx?ResourceId=204
• And of course, the mother of them all – the ABS or Australian bureau of
statistics. Besides tourism information, this is a good source of information
on Australia’s changing demographics, its use of internet and so on
– http://www.abs.gov.au/

10. Websites with useful supporting information for
Australia
Academia/STCRC
• Sustainable Tourism Co-perative Research Centre ceased operating a few
years ago – it’s research is still freely available online at
http://www.crctourism.com.au/bookshop/
• Universities in Australia that have tourism departments will also publish
their research. Those who do postgraduate work who can be found at
http://www.hotcourses.com.au/australia/all-travel-and-tourism-
postgraduate-courses-australia/pg-aus-all/db-m2/order-cd-
1/kw/courses.html and then follow links to individual universities to find
one near you
• Travel and Tourism Research Association can connect you to both
commercial and academic researchers all over the world. The Asia Pacific
Chapter has a LinkedIn page where you can engage and post questions
TTRA Apac (or join Australian Tourism Marketing as Bron and I share
things there)

11. Websites with industry specific information
Industry associations in Australia
• There are many associations with information about your industry to help you plan
things.
• However you often need to be a member to access this information.
• Industry associations that share research beyond their members include:
– ATEC. https://www.atec.net.au/422.html
– TTF. http://www.ttf.org.au/Content/research.aspx
– TAA (part of AHA)... http://tourismaccommodation.com.au/research-reports
(mostly compilaton of other research)
– NRMA http://www.mynrma.com.au/about/reports-brochures-research.htm
(mostly policy documents)
– Cruise Down Under http://www.cruisedownunder.com/reports

12. Information on travel and travellers generally
International bodies (1)
• Besides Australian bodies a whole range of international associations produce
insight and information including
• Tourism
– PATA – the Pacific Asia Travel Association http://www.pata.org/Intelligence
(some are chargeable but some are free)
– UNWTO (the World Tourism Organisation)
http://statistics.unwto.org/en/publications (again chargeable and free are
both available)
– WTTC (the World Travel and Tourism Council) http://www.wttc.org/research/
– ETC http://www.etc-corporate.org/market-intelligence.html
• Cruising
– CLIA http://www.cruising.org/pressroom-research/market-research

13. Information on travel and travellers generally
International bodies (2)
• Airlines
– www.iata.org (global)
– www.icao.int (UN civil aviation body)
– Regional organisations such as AAPA (for the Asia Pacific Region)
http://www.aapairlines.org/Asia_Pacific_Perspectives.aspx
• Airports
– Airports Council International
http://www.airports.org/cda/aci_common/display/main/aci_content07_bann
ers.jsp?zn=aci&cp=1-6_725_2__

14. Information on travel and travellers generally
Frenemies
• Besides our own investment here, many of our competitors produce excellent insights
on source markets – or on issues that you can borrow
• The most consistently useful we find are:
– Tourism New Zealand http://www.newzealand.com/travel/trade/marketing-
toolbox/tourism-research/tourism-research.cfm
– CTC (Canada) http://en-corporate.canada.travel/research I particularly like their
segmentation – and also their work on indigenous tourism
– Visit Britain http://www.visitbritain.org/insightsandstatistics/index.aspx (also check
out the national sites for England http://www.visitengland.org/insight-
statistics/market-research/index.aspx, Scotland
http://www.visitscotland.org/research_and_statistics.aspx , Wales
http://wales.gov.uk/topics/tourism/research/?lang=en and Northern Ireland -
http://www.nitb.com/CategoryPage.aspx?path=2e3c2831-b6cb-4bcd-a276-
e0283e5bd203,76feeab2-495b-4951-8e1a-f26d64d3fca4 )
– Tourism Ireland http://www.failteireland.ie/research-statistics
– Office of Travel and Tourism Industries
(http://tinet.ita.doc.gov/research/index.html)

15. Information on consumers and travellers
Commercial research
• The Roy Morgan Holiday Tracking Study does make some of its research available for free as well as other
research on subjects such as consumer confidence:
– www.roymorgan.com
• Specialist travel consultancies
– http://www.eyefortravel.com/
– http://www.phocuswright.com/free_reports
• TNS has a specialist travel team who put out insights and information on their travel blog (some written by
me!)
– http://www.sixthsenseinsights.com.au/tag/travel/
• Sponsored research is another good source such as the Visa PATA Travel Intentions study (the most recent
source is available for purchase to PATA members, but topline results can be found at
http://pressreleases.visa.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=215693&p=irol-newsarticlePR&ID=1810853&highlight and
you can usually find the previous year’s study on the net e.g. http://www.visa-
asia.com/ap/cn/zh_CN/mediacenter/factsheets/includes/visa_pata_travel_intentions_report2010.pdf
(this still has a lot of good insight)
• CAPA produces a great deal of relevant information http://www.centreforaviation.com/
• Or try the search terms earlier in this presentation!*
* Cut down version but email us for a copy on good google search terms

16. Information on digital trends
• Most of the major research vendors produce insight in this area. The ones I know
best are below
• TNS
– www.tnsdigitallife.com and www.discovermobilelife.com
• Nielsen (just an example)
– http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports-downloads/2012/how-digital-
influences-how-we-shop-around-the-world.html

17. Information on trends and the consumer
mindset
• Here are some sites that I use ALL the time to understand the consumer mindset
and broader trends
• www.jwtintelligence.com (Anxiety Index, Top 10 and Top 100 trends per year)
• http://trendwatching.com/
• www.trendhunter.com
• http://thefuturescompany.com/free-thinking/
• Insider tip (the sites researchers use and trust about Australia):
– David Dale’s blog for the Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/blog/the-tribal-mind
– http://www.rebeccahuntley.com/bio.htm (you may have seen Rebecca on The
Gruen Transfer and Q&A)

18. Quirky or interesting sources
• For a general country profile you cannot beat the CIA World Fact Book. I use it all
the time as a general start point
– https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
• Financial information try using the search terms (e.g. Consumer confidence in
China) or go to
– http://www.tradingeconomics.com/
– www.economist.com
– Try the national banks

19. This list is not exhaustive
If you find other great examples, don’t
forget to share them on the forum
http://www.mytravelresearch.com/for
um/ or by emailing us
(carolyn@mytravelresearch.com or
bronwyn@mytravelresearch.com ).
The more we build the resource, the more
we all benefit. And we will
acknowledge your contribution of
course!
And finally...

20. A couple of quick points
• Not an approach for everyone – that’s why we do what we do!
• But it is a start
• Trend for NTO’s to start concealing – but the key is to make sure your industry has
it, even if others do as well

21. Please note that the data contained in this report has been prepared for the specific purpose of the PATA
Colloquium .
It may not be suitable for other applications. The use of this data for any other purpose should be discussed
with the lead authors. MyTravelResearch.com Pty Ltd accepts no responsibility for unauthorised use of this
data by a third party.