Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
tourism activity and the effects on the economy and society in different environments is
crucial to the development of tourism as an established area of study within the confines
of social science (Lennon 2003). Burkart and Medlik (1981) provide an insight into the
development of measurements of tourism phenomena by governments during the 1960s
and their development through to the late 1970s. While it is readily acknowledged by
most tourism researchers that statistics are a necessary feature to provide data to enable
researchers, managers, planners, decision-makers and public and private sector bodies to
gauge the significance and impact of tourism on destination areas, Burkart and Medlik
(1981:74) identify four principal reasons for statistical measurement in tourism:
• to evaluate the magnitude and significance of tourism to a destination area or region
• to quantify the contribution to the economy or society, especially the effect on the
balance of payments
• to assist in the planning and development of tourism infrastructure and the effect of
different volumes of tourists with specific needs
• to assist in the evaluation and implementation of marketing and promotion activities
where the tourism marketer requires information on the actual and potential markets
and their characteristics.
Consequently, tourism statistics are essential to the measurement of the volume, scale,
impact and value of tourism at different geographical scales from the global to the
country level down to the individual destination. A more recent development has been the
evolution of Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSAs) for individual countries to establish a set
methodology for assessing the tourism economy in each country (see Frechtling 1996 for
more detail on how this technique has been developed and applied). Yet an information
gap still exists between the types of statistics provided by organisations for and the needs
of users. The compilation of tourism statistics provided by organisations associated with
the measurement of tourism has established methods and processes to collect, collate and
analyse tourism statistics (World Tourism Organisation 1995), yet these have been
understood by only a small number of researchers and practitioners. Thus this section
attempts to demystify the apparent sophistication and complexity associated with the
presentation of statistical indicators of tourism and their value to spatial analysis, since
geographers have a strong quantified methods tradition (Johnston 1991), which is
reflected in the use and reliance upon such indicators to understand spatial variations and
patterns of tourism activity. All too often, under graduate and many postgraduate texts
assume a prior knowledge of tourism statistics and they are dealt with only in a limited
way by most tourism texts; where such issues are raised they are usually discussed in
over-technical texts aimed at a limited audience (e.g. Frechtling 1996).
A commonly misunderstood feature which is associated with tourism statistics is that
they are a complete and authoritative source of information (i.e. they answer all the
questions posed by the researcher) (Lennon2003). Other associated problems are that
statistics are recent and relate to the previous year or season, implying that there is no
time lag in their generation, analysis, presentation and dissemination to interested parties.
In fact, most tourism statistics are 'typically measurements of arrivals, trips, tourist nights
and expenditure, and these often appear in total or split into categories such as business or
leisure travel' (Latham 1989:55-6). Furthermore, the majority of published tourism
statistics are derived from sample surveys, with the results being weighted or statistically
