Methodological problems in the economic measurement of tourism: the need for new sources of information
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Methodological problems in the economic measurement of tourism: the need for new sources of information Fabrizio Antolini1 · Laura Grassini2
© Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Tourism alone does not comprise an economic sector. Tourism activities are found in the agriculture, industry, and service sectors. As a result, tourism can contribute considerably to the growth of a country’s economy. Currently, all tourism activities are included in the GDP, but policymakers and entrepreneurs need to identify tourism’s contribution to the overall economy. However, the available statistics are not always homogeneous across countries, nor are they collected in a timely manner. The geographic details of available statistics are also insufficient. Estimating the value tourism adds to the economy is methodologically complex because of varying operational definitions and the use of different statistical sources. Conversely, the production of business registers offers a new opportunity to estimate economic aggregates and, in particular, the value added of the tourism sector, even at the local level. Nevertheless, some methodological problems remain. Keywords Tourism Satellite Accounts · Business Register · Usual Environment · Statistical Classifications · National Accounts
1 Introduction The need to determine the economic value of the tourism sector is apparent to both politicians and entrepreneurs. In recent years, tourism statistics have received more attention, as illustrated by the transition from the Eurostat Directive (95/57/EC) to the Regulation (692/2011). Although the Regulation does not concern statistical methodologies, some concepts it addresses are also relevant for measuring economic aggregates. Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA) provide the primary methodological guidelines for producing economic statistics on tourism (Eurostat 2001; 2009). Unfortunately, because there is no legal obligation to do so, not all EU countries have compiled the ten tables * Fabrizio Antolini [email protected] Laura Grassini [email protected] 1
Economia, Università degli Studi di Teramo, Via R. Balzarini 1, 64100 Teramo, Italy
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Dipartimento di Statistica, Università di Firenze, Viale Morgagni informatica, applicazioni, 59, 50134 Florence, Italy
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required by TSA. Moreover, their compilation includes some important elements of heterogeneity that characterize both demand- and supply-side data on tourism. The role of TSA can be better understood by considering that the TSA is an appendix (i.e., a “satellite”) of the System of National Accounts (SNA). For this reason, the main sources used to compile TSA tables are those used for the national account aggregates (in particular, Structural Business Statistics). However, tourism is a very complex field because many economic activities are involved in tourism, though many only partially. In this context, measuring the contribution or impact of tourism (especially of the tourism industry) on GDP is a real challenge. Supply—and
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