10.8 Tourism accounts

10.8 Tourism accounts#

10.8.1 Concept, frameworks and guidelines#

Glossary of Tourism Terms

UNWTO Glossary of Tourism Terms (🔗), developed by the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) brings together definitions of some 140 terms that are relevant in developing and implementing a tourism satellite account (TSA) and tourism statistics. In addition to defining tourism and terms specific to tourism, the Glossary includes terms that are used in other branches of statistics and are drawn from the corresponding international standards, guidelines and manuals, such as the 2008 SNA.

Tourism is defined in the Glossary as a social, cultural and economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes. In the context of tourism, the people involved are referred to as visitors (and may be tourists or excursionists; residents or non-residents) and tourism has to do with their activities, some of which involve tourism expenditure.

Tourism Satellite Account: Recommended Methodological Framework

As tourism cuts across different sectors, it cannot be measured in the same way as sectors of the economy, such as manufacturing or retail trade. Thus, the UNWTO, the OECD, Eurostat and the UNSD developed the Tourism Satellite Account: Recommended Methodological Framework (TSA RMF) 2008 (🔗). It provides a common conceptual framework for constructing a TSA and is the main tool for the economic measurement of tourism. It adopts the basic system of concepts, classifications, definitions, tables and aggregates of the 2008 SNA. Thus, it allows the harmonization and reconciliation of tourism statistics from an economic (SNA) perspective. This enables the generation of tourism economic data (such as tourism direct GDP) that are comparable with other economic statistics.

A TSA uses the SNA logic of contrasting data from the demand-side of the economy (the acquisition of goods and services by visitors while on a tourism trip) with data from the supply-side (the value of goods and services produced by industries in response to visitor expenditure).

A TSA can be viewed as a set of up to 10 summary tables, each with their underlying data.

  1. Inbound tourism expenditure

  2. Domestic tourism expenditure

  3. Outbound tourism expenditure

  4. Internal tourism consumption

  5. Production accounts of tourism industries

  6. Total domestic supply and internal tourism consumption

  7. Employment in tourism industries

  8. Gross fixed capital formation of tourism industries

  9. Tourism collective consumption

  10. Non-monetary indicators

To be considered a TSA, at least Tables 1-6 should be compiled. Given the importance of tourism as an employment generating sector, it is recommended that the TSA also includes Table 7 as well as the non-monetary indicators in Table 10, which can provide different insights from an analysis viewpoint.

Compilation of Tables 8 and 9 often require data to be collected from complex sources, so they should be considered at a more advanced stage of TSA development.

International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics, 2008

The International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics (IRTS) 2008 (🔗) provide a comprehensive methodological framework for collection and compilation of tourism statistics in all countries irrespective of the level of development of their statistical systems. They are primarily addressed to staff in NSOs and national tourism administrations involved in the compilation of tourism statistics. The document also contains a wealth of information that might be of interest to data users who would like to understand better the nature of tourism data. In addition, general guidance is provided with respect to data sources and data compilation methods, which are detailed in the accompanying compilation guide (discussed below).

The international recommendations were drafted by the UNWTO in close cooperation with the UNSD, the ILO and other members of the Inter-Agency Coordination Group on Tourism Statistics (further described below). A draft version of the recommendations was reviewed and endorsed by the United Nations Expert Group on Tourism Statistics in June 2007 and was adopted by the Statistical Commission at its thirty-ninth session (E/CN.3/2008/34) (🔗).

International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics 2008 Compilation Guide4

The IRTS Compilation Guide, 2014 (🔗) is a companion document to the IRTS 2008. It provides further clarifications and practical guidance on using sources and methods to compile statistics on tourism. It is designed to support the production of a high-quality set of basic data and indicators in each country and to strengthen the international comparability of tourism statistics.

The Compilation Guide discusses new data sources and the application of statistical methods to changing circumstances. Given that statistical methods evolve over time, it does not present a prescriptive or definitive approach to compiling tourism statistics. It includes:

  • comments and explanations concerning the different concepts introduced and used in IRTS 2008;

  • orientation on the issues behind these recommendations;

  • guidance on how to compile the recommended variables and aggregates; and

  • examples of how some countries have solved specific problems.

Some of the solutions can be considered as best practice. Others are geared to particular national circumstances but, nevertheless, are interesting as illustrations of how countries can overcome obstacles encountered in the compilation process.

Practical Guide for the Compilation of a TSA: Directory of Good Practices

The Practical Guide for the Compilation of a TSA: Directory of Good Practices (🔗) draws on EU Member States´ experiences on how to compile the TSA. It is a practical TSA implementation guide, based on the evaluation of country-specific TSA stocktaking reports.

The technical assistance missions carried out as part of a Eurostat funded project on fostering TSA implementation in the Member States provided an additional stimulus for the identification of further specific implementation practices. As a result, the Guide refers mainly to the TSA-RMF 2000 (the earlier version of RMF 2008 described in Chapter 8.8.1) and to the corresponding European Implementation Manual (TSA-EIM) which was published by Eurostat in 2001. Nonetheless, it includes comments on significant methodological changes introduced in the TSA-RMF 2008. Above all, it caters to compilers who are less experienced in national TSA compilation and professionals seeking practically orientated recommendations.

10.8.2 Linking the TSA and the SEEA#

The TSA-SEEA Technical Note (🔗) was prepared by UNWTO, in collaboration with UNSD, under the auspices of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Environmental-Economic Accounting (UNCEEA) and the UNWTO Committee on Statistics. It was welcomed by the UNSC at its March 2019 session. The Note describes approaches to linking information from the TSA and System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) frameworks. It provides practical guidance for the measurement of environmental flows (water, energy, greenhouse gas emissions and solid waste) in the tourism industries. This work is part of the current Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (MST) initiative of UNWTO supported by UNSD (discussed below).

The United Nations Committee of Experts on Environmental-Economic Accounting (UNCEEA) (see Chapter 10.6.5) has overseen the development of a number of technical notes relating to various components of the SEEA Central Framework, such as accounting for water, energy, air emissions, material flows, environmental protection expenditure and the environmental goods and services sector. The TSA-SEEA Technical Note follows the same general structure including the description of core accounts, discussion of indicators and provision of general compilation guidance.

10.8.3 Examples of national practice#

The economic value of tourism to Australia’s economy is estimated using the TSA. The resulting Australian Tourism Satellite Account (ATSA) is published annually and provides measures of tourism gross value added, tourism gross domestic product, tourism employment and tourism trade. It enables the government and industry to compare the value of tourism with other industries in the economy.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics produces the estimates at a national level (using inputs from the International Visitor Survey and National Visitor Survey) and Tourism Research Australia produces the state and regional estimates. The ATSA is funded by the Australian Trade and Investment Commission.

10.8.4 Further development#

Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism

In 2015, the UNWTO, with the support of UNSD, initiated the programme of work entitled Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (MST). The aim is to develop an international Statistical Framework for Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (SF-MST), including economic, environmental and social dimensions.

By integrating tourism within economic, social and environmental measurement standards, the framework aims to provide a common language and to organize structure for exploiting the richness of data already available and for more effective data production, management and integration.

Such a standards-based framework supports the credibility, comparability and outreach of various measurement and monitoring programmes pertaining to sustainable tourism, including the derivation of SDG indicators. A number of countries have already participated in pilot studies and shared their experiences in the implementation of some aspects of the SF-MST.

It is expected that the SF MST will be presented to the UNSC for its endorsement.

6th UNWTO International Conference on Tourism Statistics: Measuring Sustainable Tourism

On the occasion of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017 (🔗), the Government of the Philippines and the UNWTO organized the 6th International Conference on Tourism Statistics (🔗) in Manila with the primary objective of addressing the issue of the Measurement of Sustainable Tourism.

One thousand five hundred participants from 88 countries, including ministers, chief statisticians, private sector representatives, and key decision-makers from international organizations discussed how to advance a rigorous, statistical approach to the measurement of sustainable tourism. The Manila Call for Action (🔗) was a culmination of this conference in which governments and administrations, international organizations, academia, the private sector and civil society, called for the development and implementation of a Statistical Framework for Measuring Sustainable Tourism that includes economic, environmental and social dimensions across relevant spatial levels (global, national and sub-national)’.

The UNWTO Committee on Statistics

The UNWTO Committee on Statistics is a subsidiary advisory body of the UNWTO Executive Council and, as such, contributes to the fulfilment of Article 13 (3) of the agreement whereby UNWTO became a specialized United Nations agency. That agreement states: “The United Nations recognizes UNWTO as the appropriate organization to collect, to analyse, to publish, to standardize and to improve the statistics of tourism and to promote the integration of these statistics within the sphere of the United Nations system.” The Committee is involved in the following:

  • Proposing initiatives relating to the design and implementation of international standards on tourism statistics.

  • Promoting the international comparability of tourism statistics by proposing initiatives relative to the collection, homogeneity, processing and dissemination of data.

  • Helping member countries in their initiatives to improve their respective national systems of tourism statistics and in the development of TSAs, including the further development and clarification of methodological issues relating to tourism statistics and exploring future extensions of TSAs.

  • Liaising with other international bodies with delegated responsibilities for leadership regarding and coordination of related international statistics and their standards within the sphere of the United Nations system.

Working Group of Experts on Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism

The Working Group of Experts on MST was established by the UNWTO’s Committee on Statistics in collaboration with UNSD and works in coordination with the UNCEEA. The primary task of the Working Group is to develop the SF-MST and support its implementation in countries.

Expert Group on Tourism Satellite Account Compilation Guide

UNWTO, with the support of UNSD, set up an Expert Group on Tourism Satellite Account to lead the development of the Compilation Guide. It is the mandate of the Expert Group to draft the compilation guide, consult all stakeholders in this process and submit the guide to the UN Statistical Commission in the near future.

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