Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
• volume of tourists
• expenditure by tourists
• the profile of the tourist and their trip characteristics.
As is true of domestic tourism, estimates form the basis for most statistics on
international tourism since the method of data collection does not generate exact data. For
example, volume statistics are often generated from counts of tourists at entry/exit points
(i.e. gateways such as airports and ports) or at accommodation. But such data relate to
numbers of trips rather than individual tourists since one tourist may make more than one
trip a year and each trip is counted separately. In the case of expenditure statistics, tourist
expenditure normally refers to tourist spending within a country and excludes payments
to operators of tourist transport. Yet deriving such statistics is often an indirect measure
based on foreign currency estimates derived from bank records, from data provided by
tourism service providers or more commonly from social surveys undertaken directly
with tourists. Research by White and Walker (1982) and Baretje (1982) directly questions
the validity and accuracy of such methods of data collection, examining the main causes
of bias and error in such studies.
According to Edwards (1991:68-9), 'expenditure and receipts data apart, tourist
statistics are usually collected in one of the five following ways':
• Counts of all individuals entering or leaving the country at all recognised frontier
crossings, often using arrival/departure cards where high-volume arrivals/departures
are the norm. Where particularly large volumes of tourist traffic exist, a 10 per cent
sampling framework is normally used (i.e. every tenth arrival/departure card).
Countries such as New Zealand actually match the arrival/departure cards, or a
sample, to examine the length of stay.
• Interviews carried out at frontiers with a sample of arriving and/or departing passengers
to obtain a more detailed profile of visitors and their activities within the country. This
will often require a careful sample design to gain a sufficiently large enough sample
with the detail required from visitors on a wide range of tourism data including places
visited, expenditure, accommodation usage and related items.
• Selecting a sample of arrivals and providing them with a self-completion questionnaire
to be handed in or posted. This method is used in Canada but it fails to incorporate
those visitors travelling via the United States by road.
• Sample surveys of the entire population of a country including travellers and non-
travellers, though the cost of obtaining a representative sample is often prohibitive.
• Accommodation arrivals and nights spent are recorded by hoteliers and owners of the
accommodation types covered. The difficulty with this type of data collection is that
accommodation owners have no incentive to record accurate details, particularly
where the tax regime is based on the turnover of bed-nights (see Page 1989 for a
discussion of this problem in the context of London).
The final area of data collection is profile statistics, which examine the characteristics and
travel habits of visitors. For example, the UK's International Passenger Survey (IPS) is
one survey that incorporates volume, expenditure and profile data on international
tourism.
