Search results

This paper aims to discuss the evolution of tourism data and critically debates future perspective for producers and users of tourism data.

This paper provides a perspective on tourism data based on selected literature.

Industry developments, technological changes and novel methodologies have influenced tourism data sources. Closer attention to new data collection methods and novel analytics is required.

A considerate and integrated system of tourism data (statistics, indicators, and big data) shall remain a priority for scholars and practitioners alike.

The thoughtful merging of tourists’ digital traces with industry data, the competences of data analysts and the theoretical strengths of tourism scholars will result in a redesign of the tourism data landscape.

This perspective article provides a brief overview of the development and challenges related to the future use of tourism statistics, indicators and big data.

The paper offers a novel vision of tourism data by combining three different but complementary aspects of tourism data.

Anthony Edwards' recent study “The Reliability of Tourism Statistics ”in Travel & Tourism Analyst [Edwards 1991 in References below] is timely, coming before the WTO International Conference on Travel and Tourism Statistics (Ottawa, June 25–28, 1991) and the Meeting on Tourism Statistics at the International Statistical Institute's 38th Session (together with the International Association for Official Statistics, Cairo, September 1991). He is one of the most expert users and analysts of these problematic data. Both WTO [1985] and OECD [1982, 1984] published methodological reports on the main national statistics they publish. A recent book [Bar‐On 1989a], three articles in The Tourist Review [Bar‐On 1983, 1988] and in International Tourism Quarterly [Withyman 1985] and a paper at the Beijing Conference of IAOS [Bar‐On 1990] discussed many of the problems and solutions, and they were covered at the Crete Europa Conference [Schmidhauser 1991]. The following should interest readers producing or analysing tourism data:

This research paper aims to develop a comprehensive tourism satellite account‐human resource module (TSA‐HRM) which can complement and enhance the analytical capacity provided by the TSA, allowing for a broader insight into tourism's role in the economy, especially that of Egypt.

The objectives have been achieved through reviewing the literature in the fields of tourism satellite account (TSA) and its handling of tourism employment. To answer the research questions, one strategy and one method associated with the qualitative approach are used. The strategy refers to the case study, while the method refers to participant observation. An in‐depth analysis of the TSA project in Egypt was performed using the Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF) introduced by the International Monetary Fund.

The results indicate that statistics on tourism‐related employment in Egypt are usually fragmented, difficult to compare and often lack quality, credibility and reliability. Thus Egypt is in need of a way to improve tourism labor market statistics. However, the process of assessment of the TSA project in Egypt shows that Egypt has good experience in implementing the TSA system. The application of the TSA in Egypt at this high level will create a new horizon for improving the quality of tourism employment statistics.

At the time of the research Egypt was in the process of constructing its first TSA, and this of course is considered one of the limitations. Since the introduction of TSA to the Egyptian tourism industry in 2009, the statistical system of tourism has made a considerable contribution to improve the quality of data, based on evaluating some of the DQAF criteria, but there are no results so far. The present situation caused the study to fall within the theoretical framework, without producing any statistics on tourism employment in Egypt according to the proposed TSA‐HRM.

The model proposed will provide detailed data about employment, labor or human resource issues related to tourism in the Egyptian economy, which provides a useful resource for planning policy and decision making.

Considering the research findings, the study developed a comprehensive quantitative (monetary and non‐monetary) and qualitative tourism human resources module of tourism satellite account to extend the analytical capacity of the TSA as well as trace most issues relevant to the tourism labor market in Egypt.

This paper aims to show how the effect of vacation home tourism can be quantified within the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA). TSA is a statistical standard recommended by international organizations such as UNWTO, Eurostat and OECD, that measures the economic importance of tourism in the same way as the system of national accounts.

The research focuses on the analysis of a conceptual framework for the statistics of vacation home tourism as it is reflected in the international statistical standards 2008 International Recommendations on Tourism Statistics (IRTS) and Tourism Satellite Account: Recommended Methodological Framework (TSA: RMF). In addition, the analysis is exemplified by some TSA country results referring to vacation homes/second homes. In these illustrative examples calculations are made in a simple manner to show that vacation homes are a component of the main TSA aggregates – internal tourism consumption and tourism value added.

Computing the share of vacation homes reveals that the figures obtained vary from country to country, providing an index for the “level of economic importance of vacation homes”. However, the level of economic importance of vacation homes depends heavily on the measurements each country decides to include in their TSA in relation to vacation homes and consequently the international comparability of data could be affected.

It was possible to calculate the contribution made by vacation homes to TSA aggregates only in those countries where the figures relating to this aspect of the economy were published/disseminated.

Computing the contribution of vacation homes to the main TSA aggregates produced quantitative results, showing that vacation homes do make a contribution to the tourism economy.

This chapter conceptualises a link between Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0), big data, data science and sustainable tourism.

The author adopts a grounded theory and conceptual approach to endeavour in this exploratory research.

The outcome shows a significant rise of big data in the tourism sector under three major dimensions, i.e. business, governance and research. And, some exemplary evidence of institutions promoting the use of big data and data science for sustainable tourism has been discussed.

The conceptualised interlinkage of concepts like IR 4.0, big data, data science and sustainable development provides a valuable knowledge resource to policy-makers, researchers, businesses and students.

The references listed here should serve both as a guide to the free and inexpensive sources of tourism and travel research information and an ‘eye‐opener’ to the wealth of available data that is yours for the asking. In selecting sources of information, efforts have been made to (1) emphasize prime data, (2) list sources which can be used to locate more detailed data, and (3) keep the list brief enough to be actually read and used rather than kept in the bookshelf. Effective utilization can save hours of time and provide useful information that might otherwise be missed. Below, you will find sources in eight categories given within the constraints stated above.

The importance of tourism for France's economy and society means that proper knowledge of tourism flows is essential. But designing a measuring system and periodic gathering of statistical data raise several difficulties. First, tourism is, by definition, based on movement, and all phenomena involving movement are difficult to measure. Second, there are many different forms of tourism, including holidays and business trips, short and long stays and so forth. Third, the notion of tourism flows has different meanings for those in charge of road, rail or air traffic management, and for those in charge of tourist visits.

This paper first discusses the ambiguities of the notions used in tourism studies. It emphasises the distinction between tourist flows along transportation routes and those in specific places. It then reviews the proper calculation rules for each of the geographical objects used for measuring tourism phenomena, which are primarily lines and areas. It also addresses some of the problems raised by the failure to comply with these rules in published information.

Third, this paper presents the various systems used to measure tourist flows and inflows, and discusses their usefulness and limitations, before discussing some new developments in the field.

Finally, it examines the potential value of modern communication technologies for mobility studies. More specifically, it raises the issue of striking the right balance between statistical accuracy and individual freedom.

The main objective of this chapter is to examine the country's internal communication environment that helps create community awareness and improve public–private tourism partnerships to achieve Oman Vision 2040. This chapter also attempts to understand the efforts of the National Tourism Organization (NTO) in building community relationships and empowering them by capitalizing on available resources within the community.

The study is based on qualitative and quantitative methods. A purposive sampling technique has been applied, and the data collection has been done through surveys and interviews from the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, Salalah, Oman, to reach out to the findings.

This paper aims to provide a network study of the structural and dynamical characteristics of tourism flows in Europe from 1995 to 2012.

Travels in Europe were studied by following the network science research paradigm and by focusing on the whole network of intra-European tourism destinations. Network analysis was used to map and reveal the pattern of connections between states as shaped by bilateral tourism flows. Data were provided by the United Nations World Tourism Organization, and the data were integrated with tourism data available from national statistical offices of the individual countries, when necessary.

For 2012, results obtained from the UNWTO record-based network were compared to geo-located Twitter data as a proxy of human mobility patterns. The present analysis provides evidence of a shift towards an increased homogeneity in the travelling preferences of European tourists, an acquired attitude of visitors to travel shorter distances and a tendency of mobility patterns to merge. Finally, the comparison between UNWTO and Twitter data shows a different spatial distribution of visitors. These results provide a useful insight for policymakers involved in tourism planning.

The contribution of this study is threefold. First, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the only study that focuses on the bilateral tourism flows between all countries falling, geographically or politically, under the definition of Europe. Second, evidence is provided of a shift towards a greater homogeneity in the travelling preferences of European tourists. Lastly, for the first time, this study provides a comparison between topological structure and bilateral mobility patterns of tourism flows, based on two different data-recording methods.