[Day 1: Tuesday, 02 December, 2014]

Presenter: UNWTO

► Measuring Inbound Tourism Statistics – Type of Tools and Procedures Applied

Country presentations

► Q&A Session

16:45-18:00 Session 2: Inbound Tourism Statistics (cont’d)

► Accommodation Statistics

Presenter: UNWTO

► Accommodation and Establishment Statistics

Country presentations

► Q&A Session

14:30-16:30 Session 2: Inbound Tourism Statistics

• 14:30-16:30 Session 2: Inbound Tourism Statistics

• ► Inbound Tourism Statistics and International Practices in Organizing and Conducting Border Surveys Presenter: UNWTO

• The measurement of inbound tourism has its peculiar challenges.

• For example, where and when should the data be collected? Clearly, while some data relating to the visitor can be collected on arrival in the country, very little data can be collected on the visit, as this has not yet taken place.
• Similarly, it is not satisfactory to collect the data during the visitor’s trip as this is not yet completed. This leads to the solution of collecting the data when the visitor is departing the country. Most countries have a relatively small number of immigration/border posts through which visitors enter and depart, providing useful survey points.

• Inbound tourism statistics are usually collected in two phases.

• This reflects the structure of data collection at border posts.
• Phase one involves the use of the administrative data collected by the border protection authorities. This data identifies all travelers – both visitors and non-visitors – although in some countries very frequent border crossers, e.g. people crossing the border on a daily basis for work purposes, may not be recorded.
• Phase two usually involves a sample survey of visitors as they depart the country. This phase can then collect data such as the demographics of the visitors, activities while in the country, places visited, how much spent while in the country, etc. To design such a survey it is very useful to get the data mentioned above from phase one to provide a basis for stratifying the sample and making it more efficient and representative.

14:30-16:30 Session 2: Inbound Tourism Statistics

• 14:30-16:30 Session 2: Inbound Tourism Statistics

• ► Inbound Tourism Statistics and International Practices in Organizing and Conducting Border Surveys Presenter: UNWTO

• C.1.2. Complexity in the measurement of flows

• Countries belonging to a zone within which controls for all movements have been abolished

• Countries with special land border zones though with border controls usually in place in other non-land borders (air):

• Movements of persons by land between two non-contiguous parts of the national territory:

• Oman, the Russian Federation (Kaliningrad), Malaysia, the United States (Alaska), etc.

• Box 3.9: Count of vehicles – the case of Mexico – U.S. border

• Using count of vehicles to distinguish residents and non-residents by observing the plates of cars is not an acceptable solution for the Mexico-U.S border. Many U.S. residents (Mexican nationals) live near the U.S. border and own cars with plates from Mexico. These residents consistently transit, either for work or business, etc., and such a situation would imply an overestimation of foreign visitors.
• Source: National Statistical Office of Mexico, 2013

14:30-16:30 Session 2: Inbound Tourism Statistics

• 14:30-16:30 Session 2: Inbound Tourism Statistics

• ► Inbound Tourism Statistics and International Practices in Organizing and Conducting Border Surveys Presenter: UNWTO

• Box 3.21: Case Study – Austrian experience in using mirror data

• Austria uses mirror statistics from partner countries. In Europe where tourism has a predominantly intra-European dimension and where a legal framework obligates member states to transmit harmonized inbound supply side data and outbound demand side data, countries could greatly benefit from each other’s data.

• On one hand, mirror data can fill data gaps where own data is not available and on the other hand, mirror data can be used to assess the quality and comparability of existing tourism data. Since the use of mirror data is not unproblematic, challenges such as different methodologies, conceptual issues and definitions have to be taken into consideration. Nevertheless, when countries start working together a better harmonization of tourism statistics can be expected and duplicated observation of tourism flows might be avoided in the future.

• Source: Johanna Ostertag-Sydler, Austrian experience in using mirror data in the field of tourism and travel statistics, 2010

14:30-16:30 Session 2: Inbound Tourism Statistics

• 14:30-16:30 Session 2: Inbound Tourism Statistics

• ► Inbound Tourism

• Statistics

• and International

• Practices in

• Organizing and

• Conducting

• Border Surveys

14:30-16:30 Session 2: Inbound Tourism Statistics

• 14:30-16:30 Session 2: Inbound Tourism Statistics

• ► Inbound Tourism Statistics and International Practices in Organizing and Conducting Border Surveys Presenter: UNWTO