Modernisation programme for social statistics

Item 3.8Tourism statistics collected from households

Directors of Social Statistics meeting25-26 February 2015, Luxembourg

August GötzfriedEUROSTAT – Unit G-3 "Short-term business statistics and tourism"

Quick memo on tourism statistics Legal framework: REGULATION 692/2011

Entered into force in 2011, first reference year = 2012

Two main parts Tourism supply (see Annex I "internal tourism") – monthly/annual

collected from tourist accommodation establishment (NACE 551-553)

aggregate/tabular data candidate for FRIBS

Tourism demand (see Annex II "national tourism") – annual/triennial collected from households/individuals (residents of the EU) aggregate/tabular data (Sections 1, 3) & micro-data (Section 2) candidate for IESS 2

State-of-play FRIBS vs. tourism supply The tourism sector "as such" is covered by business

statistics E.g. via SBS, STS that produce economic information on the sector

Coverage of "tourism variables" by FRIBS? Variables specific for the accommodation sector such as nights spent,

arrivals, occupancy rates, etc. BSDG, June 2013: "inclusion at a later stage" (see also SES, LCS)

first better integrate tourism registers into business registers statistical unit (local kind-of-activity unit) quid Annex II on tourism demand if Annex I goes to FRIBS?

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Possible scenarios1 - Integration of tourism statistics in FRIBS and IESS

Dismantling of Regulation 692/2011 Better integration of tourism statistics into the ESS

architecture (business statistics, social statistics) Improved consistency and comparability with other business and social

statistics, thus improved relevance for users But:

loss of the current integrated framework for tourism statistics impact on burden (e.g. fully implement the 'core social variables'?) technical issues (e.g. combination of aggregate data and micro-data versus the IESS architecture)

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Possible scenarios2 – No action

Keep Regulation 692/2011 Maintain the current integrated framework for

tourism statistics Regulation entered into force only a few years ago But:

FRIBS/IESS aims at making statistics fit for the next decade Tourism statistics can miss the "momentum" and risks to become an isolated island in statistics, attracting less visitors/users in the long

term

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Revising the existing legislation No intention to review the requirements under

Regulation 692/2011 Recently entered into force (2011) Fine-tuning / alignment where needed for smooth integration

short term But notwithstanding an evaluation / possible revision if needed

mid to long term

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Exchange of Views questionnaire No explicit consultation on item 3.8 Some feedback from Member states (taken from the

feedback on Article 2) ES: supports the inclusion in the IESS (under unchanged conditions) PL: recommends the exclusion from the IESS as this could lead to an

increase of burden on respondents; BG/IE/UK: recommend not to cover tourism statistics in the IESS (inter alia

as the tourism statistics regulation is only from 2011)

But no feedback from 23 out of 28 Member States, so…

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The floor is open for discussion !

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