TRA Case Study:
Monash University
TRA DATA SHAPING THE TOURISM
EXPERTS OF TOMORROW
Access to rich and extensive tourism data not only allows in-depth
reporting on current trends within the industry, it also provides
fuel to help shape the future of tourism in Australia.
The use of data to build a future for tourism is put into practice
at Monash University, Melbourne, where Tourism Research
Australia (TRA) data is used as part of the Graduate Tourism
Program, equipping students with the skills required for a career
in international tourism management.
‘Research and data are key to educating the next generation of
leaders of the tourism industry,’ Director of the Program, Dr. Jeff
Jarvis, explains.
‘TRA data constitutes a really important part of the syllabus
for our students, because the tourism industry demands that
graduates are comfortable with large amounts of data. They must
be able to interpret and manipulate it effectively and draw insights
from it.’
Jeff is passionate about the importance of data to the Program.
‘In the tourism industry data is gold, so we provide our students
with a robust understanding of how it works to make them as
employable as possible.’
If tourism research can benefit the way you
do business, find out more about
TRA Online here.
At Monash, both the International Visitor Survey and National
Visitor Survey are used as teaching tools to engage students
with analysing data sets and recognising market trends across
Australia.
The students are also required to look at different regions or
nations and find trends in travel patterns, activities and overall
spend, so TRA’s Local Government Area Profiles are a helpful
resource, along with historical data sets, which help students
assess how the tourism industry is shifting on a macro scale.
Jeff, who has a PhD in International Marketing and Tourism, says
the nature of the industry requires a high-level understanding of
data and trends.
‘We’re incredibly lucky in Australia that we have such a
comprehensive tourism data set with detailed records spanning
over decades. We work internationally and there are countries
around the world who are very jealous of the resources we have
access to.’
‘A lot of tourism boards around the country pull data from the
International Visitor Survey as it allows them to track industry
trends. What’s being produced by TRA is essential to these local
and regional areas to understand shifts in tourism trends both in
their specific area and more broadly across Australia.’
For students on the Graduate Tourism Program at Monash,
access to data displayed in an intuitive and easy-to-read fashion
is helping to build skills and knowledge of the industry and shape
the tourism experts of tomorrow.
TRA provides students with access to tourism data via the
Student Data Package which is a product of TRA Online.
Students can access the databases via their library services using
their university account details.
TRA.GOV.AU