Europe
28 Nov 17

Workshop on Measuring the economic impact of tourism in Europe: the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA)

Jointly organized by UN Tourism and the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) and in collaboration with Eurostat

Background

The economic importance of tourism in the European Union is increasingly recognized and better understood, thanks in part to the development of the Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA) in European countries. The TSA brings together data on tourism and on the economy to present the contribution of tourism in e.g. Gross Value Added, Gross Domestic Product and employment. These can then be compared to economic aggregates for other sectors like agriculture, mining or financial services.

Developing TSA is beyond a technical exercise also very much a strategic endeavor and linked to considerations of the tourism policy. This helps explains why, despite the fact Europe boasts some of the most statistically advanced countries in the world, it remains a challenge in many European countries to develop their TSAs—certainly to the level of sophistication that data users might like and, equally important, to keep it running.

Objective

The Workshop aims to bring policy makers (data users) and tourism statisticians and TSA compilers (data producers) to uncover the main elements for successful TSA implementation. This will range from technical requirements to institutional arrangements and political leadership.

Introduction on the Tourism Satellite Account - Overview of the conceptual framework and the benefits of TSA.
Presentations by Austria:
- TSA-Questionnaire - Main Results (as of 1/12/2017)
- Framework, tables and benefits
State of affair on TSA compilation in Europe - Based on voluntary transmitted TSA indicators of several EU countries the challenges and main results are presented.
Presentation by:
- Eurostat
What can be expected from TSA, what not? - The aim is to present the strengths and limitations of TSA and having an interactive discussion with the trainers and participants.
Presentations by:
- Austria
- Canada
- Malaysia
How to use TSA data for tourism policies? - Various countries examples on the value and advantages of TSA for policy makers, considering their expectations.
Presentations by:
- Austria
- Canada
- Malaysia
- Sweden
- Portugal
- Denmark
TSA governance at national level - Various countries examples on institutional arrangements and cooperation between TSA-compilers and users including best practices related to data dissemination.
Presentations by:
- Austria
- Canada
- Czech Republic
- Malaysia
- United Kingdom
- Netherlands
- Portugal
The TSA as an anchor for expanding our understanding of tourism - SDGs indicators derived from the TSA and Linking the TSA and the System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA)
Presentation by:
- UN Tourism
Compliation Guide for TSA - The aim is to present the ongoing work in regard to the development of a TSA Compilation Guide supported by the UN Statistical Commission in March 2017.
Presentation by:
- UNSD
Measuring tourism demand - The aim is to provide an overview related to subject and scope on the TSA-Tables 1 to 4.
Presentations by:
Measuring tourism supply - The aim is to provide and overview related to subject and scope of the TSA-Tables 5 and 6.
Presentations by:
Employment in the tourism industries - The aim is to provide an overview related to subject and scope of the TSA-Table 7.
Presentations by:
Tourism investment, collective consumption and non-monetary indicators - The aim is to provide an overview related to subject and scope of the TSA-Tables 8, 9 and 10.
Presentations by:
Specific issues raised in the questionnaires - The aim is to provide best practices and country experiences in an interactive discussion on the treatment of package tours, components of tourism consumption, country specific tourism characteristic goods and services, international comparability, alternative data sources (e.g. credit/debit card).
Presentations by:
- Canada
- Latvia