CATO plots data research

THE Council of Australian Tour Operators is set to collate an annual report on the industry, with the aim of producing a comprehensive summary of the current and future state of the travel sector.

The initiative was outlined earlier this week at the CATO Annual General Meeting, where Chairman Dennis Bunnik detailed the long-running project.

“I am very pleased to say that we have finally made some real progress in this area,” he said, with CATO MD Brett Jardine working closely with the Australian Bureau of Statistics to “get the outbound passsenger data in a format that is useful for CATO members”.

To complement this information, StollzNow Research and Leads Corp have developed and distributed a consumer survey of travel habits and intentions, the results of which are now being analysed.

The intention is to combine the outcomes with the ABS data to create a comprehensive travel report, Bunnik said.

“This annual report will be the only one of its kind in Australia, and will be streets ahead of the data and reports created by other sectors of the industry,” he declared.

He said CATO members would have access to greater levels of data relating to specific destinations, age groups and length of travel, urging attendees to liaise with Jardine as to what sort of detail would be available to assist with market planning.

“This is a massive step forward for CATO and will raise our profile in the trade and consumer media significantly over the coming months and years,” he predicted.