Report: Evaluating Secondary Data with Australian Tourism Analysis

This report provides an evaluation of secondary data sources related to the Australian tourism industry. It begins by defining secondary data and outlining criteria for evaluating its quality, including specifications, error assessment, currency, objectives, nature, and dependability. The report then uses data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to analyze the current state of Australian tourism. Figures are presented to illustrate growth in domestic and international visitors, international trade in tourism, the share of consumption of selected products, and the industry's growth rate. The analysis reveals significant growth in both domestic and international tourism, steady growth in tourism exports, and a notable contribution of the tourism industry to Australia's GDP. The report also discusses the balance of trade and consumption patterns within the tourism sector, highlighting the importance of hotels, food, and transportation. The report concludes by emphasizing the steady growth and importance of the tourism industry in Australia, with references to relevant literature and data sources.

Running head: EVALUATING SECONDARY DATA WITH AUSTRALIAN TOURISM
Evaluating secondary data with Australian tourism
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1EVALUATING SECONDARY DATA WITH AUSTRALIAN TOURISM
Evaluation of Secondary Data Sources – Secondary data are the data, which have been
already collected by the person or organization other than the researcher (Johnston, 2017). These
data are easily and inexpensively available from the journals, books, government publications
through internet. However, it is important for the researcher to evaluate the secondary data
before using it in his or her research work, in order to ensure its validity and accuracy. Criteria
for evaluating secondary data sources are mentioned below (Cope, 2014).
Specifications – A secondary data set, which is valid, reliable and generalize able for the
research work will be considered as a good secondary data.
Error – Assessing a data set by comparing it from different source is necessary for
evaluation. It will reduce the both primary and secondary errors.
Currency – Frequency and time lag need to be considered while evaluating a data set. A
data set that updates within minimal time interval will be considered as a good source of
secondary data.
Objectives – For a project, relevant secondary is necessary. Thus, if a data set used by
the researcher fits all the requirement of the project, then it can be considered as a good source of
data.
Nature – A secondary data will be considered as a good data source, if it can be
reconfigured to increase the usefulness.
Dependability – It is good to obtain secondary data from an authentic and credible
source so that the researcher can depend on it.

2EVALUATING SECONDARY DATA WITH AUSTRALIAN TOURISM
Examples – As a source of secondary data, websites like Australian Bureau of Statistics
can be used because it fits with all the above-mentioned criteria of evaluation. Being the
government publication, it is dependable, and using the key words, it can be customized for the
different purpose.
Another source of secondary data is structured or semi-structured interviews,
observations and surveys. Unlike the previous example, these can be biased depending upon the
motive of the researcher; however, the chances of errors are low in these cases.
Current Tourism market of Australia - The tourism industry of Australia provides a
significant contribution towards the overall employment and economic activity of the country.
With rise in domestic and international tourists, tourism industry of Australia has been growing
at a large scale since 2009 (Ruhanen, Mclennan & Moyle, 2013).
Figure 1: Growth in domestic and international visitors
Source: (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2014)

3EVALUATING SECONDARY DATA WITH AUSTRALIAN TOURISM
According to the Figure 1, it can be seen that, there were considerable growth in both the
domestic as well as international visitors since 2009. More interestingly, the figure envisages that
growth of international visitors is rising at 8% annual growth, which is a very good sign for the
tourism industry of Australia.
Figure 2: International trade in tourism
Source: (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2014)
Over the period Australian tourism export has grown at a steady rate, however the
tourism imports also rose simultaneously, making the balance of trade fall (Forsyth, Dwyer &
Spurr, 2014). Rise in tourism imports is the main reason behind this contradictory situation of
balance of trade. According to figure 2, trade deficit is almost 9,000 million US$ and if the
recent trend persist in future, then the trade balance will deteriorate.

4EVALUATING SECONDARY DATA WITH AUSTRALIAN TOURISM
Figure 3: share of consumption of selected products
Source: (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2014)
Figure 3 shows the share of consumption of selected products by the tourists in Australia.
From figure 3, it can clearly be seen that apart from transportation cost, hotels and food industry
enjoys the most of the share of consumption. Due to growth in tourism in Australia, hotels and
restaurants imports more regional food crops to attract more visitors that making the fall in
balance of trade as depicted by the figure 2.

5EVALUATING SECONDARY DATA WITH AUSTRALIAN TOURISM
Figure 4: Industry growth at current prices
Source: (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2014)
Well, at last it would be deal to focus on the growth of tourism industry of Australia.
From figure 4, it can be derived that tourism industry in Australia has been growing at a 4%
annual rate making it a significant contributor in GDP of the country. Compared to other
industries in Australia, fluctuation in tourism is comparatively low that envisage the steady
growth of the tourism industry.

6EVALUATING SECONDARY DATA WITH AUSTRALIAN TOURISM
Reference:
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2014). Australian National Accounts: Tourism Satellite
Account, 2013-14. Canberra: ABS.
Cope, D. G. (2014, January). Methods and meanings: credibility and trustworthiness of
qualitative research. In Oncology nursing forum (Vol. 41, No. 1).
Forsyth, P., Dwyer, L., & Spurr, R. (2014). Is Australian tourism suffering Dutch
disease?. Annals of Tourism Research, 46, 1-15.
Johnston, M. P. (2017). Secondary data analysis: A method of which the time has
come. Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries, 3(3), 619-626.
Ruhanen, L. M., Mclennan, C. L. J., & Moyle, B. D. (2013). Strategic issues in the Australian
tourism industry: A 10-year analysis of national strategies and plans. Asia Pacific Journal
of Tourism Research, 18(3), 220-240.