Meeting of the European Directors of Social Statistics DSS 2008 - Point 4.5 Progress report on the amendment of legal base for Community Statistics on tourism Michail.Skaliotis@ec.europa.eu 22-23 September2008 Meeting of the European Directors of Social Statistics

Structure of presentation Background Current legal framework for tourism statistics Needs and objectives of the revision Items relevant for social statistics Timetable of the legal procedure Issues, challenges and responsibilities for the ESS 22-23 Oct 2008 Meeting of the European Directors of Social Statistics

Meeting of the European Directors of Social Statistics Background Tourism is an important sector of the economic, social and cultural development of the EU In 2006, Europeans made more than 920 million holiday trips, a large majority (93%) is intra-EU tourism Since 1995, there is a legal basis for Community statistics in the field of tourism: Directive 95/57/EC A changing tourism market has changed user needs and priorities and called for an update of the legal basis 22-23 Oct 2008 Meeting of the European Directors of Social Statistics

Current legal framework for tourism statistics Accommodation statistics capacity (e.g. number of bedrooms, bed places) occupancy (e.g. number of nights spent, occupancy rates) Data typically collected from hotels, campsites, etc. ~ business statistics 22-23 Oct 2008 Meeting of the European Directors of Social Statistics

Current legal framework for tourism statistics Statistics on tourism demand participation in tourism (e.g. number of tourists) number of trips and overnight stays by residents of the country (domestic, outbound) by age group, by destination country, by means of transport used, by means of accommodation, etc. Data collected from households/individuals ~ social statistics 22-23 Oct 2008 Meeting of the European Directors of Social Statistics

Current legal framework for tourism statistics Tourism-related statistics obtained from other sources employment in the tourist accommodation sector data from the Labour Force Survey (NACE 55.1+55.2; future: NACE Rev.2 division 56) indicators on sustainable and competitive tourism on-going work to compile a set of indicators derived from existing statistical information Balance of Payments statistics tourism (travel) debit and credit side of a country 22-23 Oct 2008 Meeting of the European Directors of Social Statistics

Needs and objectives of the revision Adapt to new or changed user needs improved timeliness update of the variables Further harmonization of variables and methods improvement of comparability and completeness Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA) : include basic elements necessary for TSA compilation 22-23 Oct 2008 Meeting of the European Directors of Social Statistics

Items relevant for social statistics Annex III of the draft Regulation: demand side statistics Section 1: Participation in tourism Share of the population that take part in tourism More detailed set of socio-demographic breakdowns: age, gender, educational level, employment situation, … Reasons for not participating in tourism: financial reasons, lack of time (family commitments, work commitments), health reasons, … 22-23 Oct 2008 Meeting of the European Directors of Social Statistics

Items relevant for social statistics Section 2: Tourism trips and visitors Data on trips with overnight stays made by EU residents, for any purpose outside their usual environment Scope: all trips (incl. business trips) with overnight stays (Directive: focus on trips with at least 4 overnight stays) Expansion of the set of variables (e.g. expenditure) and of the visitor profile (region, education, income, …) Micro-data transmission (Directive: set of tables) 22-23 Oct 2008 Meeting of the European Directors of Social Statistics

Items relevant for social statistics Section 3: Same day-visits New item, currently no data collected on this very significant segment of the tourism market Limited set of tables, broken down by age and gender 22-23 Oct 2008 Meeting of the European Directors of Social Statistics

Timetable of the legal procedure 2004 – 2008: discussion in Task Forces and Working Group meetings Early June 2008: final proposal at WG level July – August: Commission interservice consultation 23/09/2008: Directors of Social Statistics 24/09/2008: consultation of the SPC October 2008: adoption of the proposal by the Commission Nov/Dec 2008: first Council meetings (STATIS WP) If adopted by EP & Council in 2009  first reference year: 2010 22-23 Oct 2008 Meeting of the European Directors of Social Statistics

Issues, challenges and responsibilities for the ESS There is no doubt that the ESS supports the adoption of a renewed legal base: it will provide the ESS with the necessary legitimacy for developing high quality and policy relevant statistics on tourism. How to balance increasing user-demands with our commitment in keeping (response) burdens at acceptable levels? Question: Have We Done Enough ? * restrict number of variables, topics, coverage to the absolutely necessary….. * use of estimation, modelling, variety of sources * new techniques and technologies in (tourism) statistics 22-23 Oct 2008 Meeting of the European Directors of Social Statistics

Issues, challenges and responsibilities for the ESS Anticipation of changes in tourism behaviour Better understanding of the economics of tourism How demography, globalisation and environmental concerns are impacting on tourism. * there is a need for the ESS to enhance its analytic capabilities (e.g. microdata, core variables, etc) * development of Tourism Satellite Accounts 22-23 Oct 2008 Meeting of the European Directors of Social Statistics

Meeting of the European Directors of Social Statistics Further information Eurostat Unit F6 Michail Skaliotis, head of unit Christophe Demunter, head of section ‘tourism statistics’ Data All data and publications are available on the Eurostat website Dedicated section on Tourism Statistics: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/tourism 22-23 Oct 2008 Meeting of the European Directors of Social Statistics