1. Meeting of the European Directors of Social Statistics
DSS Point 4.5 Progress report on the amendment of legal base for Community Statistics on tourism
22-23 September2008
Meeting of the European Directors of Social Statistics

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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 ; 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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:
22-23 Oct 2008
Meeting of the European Directors of Social Statistics